The herald., 1894-07-15
SHOULD RED-HEADS Vote?
Sex and the Franchise Quail
ticatiOn.
The Boy is Developed, the Girl
Repressed.
EVIL Results Growing Out of the Hog
ical Treatment OF the Sex Prob
len-The Hope of the
Future.

uOm uaQ lalu u0Wn tnat no reu"n6aueu
man should legally aspire to the usual
rights OF a citizen; that the offices OF
state and the higher occupations should
be closed to him; that he shonld pay oil
voice in their making; and that while
heads OF all other colors-blsck, brown,
white and gray-might hold any posi-
tion, red. heads should be relgiously
excluded from every important one.
No one would be surprised under such
circumstances to know that constant
agitation WAS being kept up by the red
heads and their sympathizers, or even
that they should combine to resist laws
so arbitrary and unjust. Remuneration
of allegiance and armed rebellion
might be the eliminating results
But il would not be more unrea-
sonsble to disfrsnchise a man for
the color OF his hair than it is to disfran-
chise person on account of sex. And,
whereas the red-heads form only small
fraction Of the community, the women
number more than half. Yet, what
would be intolerable for those, is re-
garded with equanimity for these. Let
us consider for momenta few of the in
eQIalities under which our countrymen
labor, and we will begin with them from
the beginning. They must not, as girls.
have The same liberty of movement as
boys. They may not even walk out
alone; they must not talk the aame
language, learn the same Lessons, nor
indulge in the same sports. Boys
may be careless and boisterous,
girls must be prim and demure. Boys
may range field and forest, girls must
walk pathways in pairs. Boys are
natural, girls must be artificial. And
part, for, If permitted. they could rival
rived at puberty, their bonds are
tightsned just as their dresses are
heightened. They may not speak to one
OF tho other sex until he has been
formally introduced by friend or rela-
tive. They are 80 carefully guarded
that they compensate themselves by
clandestine methods. Already the girl
is a slave, and she practices slave's de.
vices. She become an adept at subtsr-
fuge and hypocrisy. At length, when
marriageable, marriage is sought, but
she may not make it known. Should
she meet man into whose hands alone
she could gladly place her destinies,
she must exhibit no preference. She
may feel that he would make her the
most suitable life companion; she
may ardently desire that he may
be the father of her children; but she
must conceal it all. He should proposes
che not. And thus. longing to be wife
and a mother, che muHt wither in her
virginity unless chance direct an offer;
or an alternative presents itself. She lie
sought in marriage, eo-ealled, by a man
for whom she has no regard, who is in
no way qualified to make her happy,
but whose means are equal to her rank.
He may have run through long caresr
of vice. and be physically and mentally
enervated and diseased. She may re-
ally loathe him, but che ia taught by
her parents to regard him as an eligible
partner, being no worse than so many
others. and she ultimately weds him
from sheer submission to their author
ity. What was the devotion Of Jephtha's
daughter to this? One stroke of the
sscrifcial knife, and all was over;
but the other endures lifelong
martyrdom. Aud this is marriage,
this awful conjunction OF decrepitude
and strength, OF lust and innocence, OF
foulness and purity. Scheming rela-
tives may fling the healthy, happy, in
genuous maiden into the arms of dis
eaeed rous, and the law will allow it
and the church bless it. Let who will
honor it with the holy name, we brand
it prostitution. For true marriage is q
spiritual and mental exosmose and en-
until both are alike. 1t Is natural
0f
and eympathiss in the alembic Of love;
two natures, the compliments OF each
other, are unconRciously and invisibly
united more firmly than in any chem
ical union.
Even at the altars of our churches
woman is deceived and dsfrauded.
with all my worldly goods l thee en-
dow" says the husband. Does he do
SO? She goes forth to be the partner OF
his bed. the mistress of his household,
the mother of his children. But all his
worldly goods" are absolutely his. She
has, with his consent. simply a use in
common during his life, and he can will
away from her everything he possesses,
and leave her penniless and destitute
after years OF wifely service. during
which her care and industry may have
multiplied his 'goods" exceedingly.
Her jewels and trinkets. if dubbed
"heirloolns," will be taken from her,
and should she have no son, a stranger.
il her husbands nearest relative, may
dispoEs3ss her of the home where che
has passed her welded lie. Where
there are sons and daughters, the dis
parity between the sexes ie still main
tanned. The great idea 10 ever man,
never woman. For him are the titles,
freeholds. factories, partnerships. and
all good things; for her, little or moth.
ing. And yet how many daughters are
superior to the sons, and how many
women are thero whose learning
and abilities would adorn any office and
position? Over and over again have
women proved their aptitude for bus-
ness and their power to compete with
men successfully in any walk OF life
Yet the avenues to wealth. honors and
titles are closed to them. The bar, the
pulpit, the medical profession. the pro-
fessorial chair, the exchange, the mart,
are reigiously closed against them. Art
and literature alone have accorded them
aqualifed admittance. and already both
have been enriched by their genius.
Their statutory disqualiications are too
many to enumerate. They may not sit
on jury, nor in parliament, nor be
members of town or county council.
The suffrage ia denied them, although