Thomas County cat., 1890-11-06


enjoying all the rights we can possibly
exercise, without burdening ourselves
with political cares and worry?
We have so many rights that God,
custom, and nature give US that most
truly womanly women would not know
what to do with rights that now belong
to the male citizen only.
We have the right to cultivate the
talents and gifts that God has meas
ured out to us; we have the right to
make careful study of our own men
tai and moral peculiarities, faults and
weaknesses of disposition the right to
nourish and develop all that is good
and beautiful within us; and to weed
out those qualities which tend to make
us unhappy and to darken the lives OF
those with whom we come in contact.
We have the right to comfort the
afflicted and to carry sunshine into
hearts darkened by sorrow.
In most homes the mother wields
greater influence over the children
than does the father, and here We find
a golden opportunity for exercising
woman's rights-the right to train up
our children to true manhood and
womanhood.
And we have the right to be "the
power behind the throne:" that is, by
virtue of coaxing, teasing, and pout-
ing, to induce our husbands and
fathers to let US follow "our own sweet
will"
We have the right to bear trials and
misfortune with patience and fortitude,
and we have the right to order our
lives so that our children shall rise up
and call us blessed"
And the very men who now grasp
the ballot tightly, and would prevent
feminine hands from casting it, are
among those who would willingly and
gladly accord woman degree of power
of which she may well be proud.
Let woman step into an assembly
of men given to degraded habits, un-
couth manners and coarse language.
She need have no fear of having her
fastidious taste offended by rude con-
duct, or that unseemly language will
jar upon her ear. Why is it that this
one refined woman can hold all these
men in check. during her presence
among them? Simply because they
willingly and spontaneously accord her
the right and power that belong to
womanhood.
In view of all these rights, dear to
every feminine heart, can We afford to
take upon ourselves still more, and
with them the duties they impose?
And there is more to be considered
in connection with the suffrage ques-
ton
1t is unauestionably true that q
woman has the legal right to do great
many things that are usually expected
of the male only. 1t is also true that
a sense of fitness and womanly dignity
prevents most of US from attempting
them. But to those women who groan
because they are not permitted to fill
public offices which they could not
grace, and which would be no honor to
them, we quote the words of DR.. Hol-
land: "A woman certainly has the
right to raise mustache and sing bass
if she wants to, but while / confess that
eyery woman has Q right to sing bass !
s..oo<a not carep pW>e1eiSised
to any great e.! !,ed for l think
treble is by all Ms the finer
and more attractive art OF music.
Bass would be bad thing for a cradle
song. and could only silence the baby
by soaring it. 1 viii admit all the
political rights that any woman claims,
If she will only let me alone and keep
her distance from me: she nay sing
bass. but do not wish to hear her.
DR.. Holland expresses our view ex-
ac.ly. Verify. if We properly exercise
the rights We have now, We shall nave
our hearts. hands, and brains so iru
that we shall not find time to wish for |
more.