Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1895-09-14
OUR SATURDAY NIGHT.


onter sphere of darkness" not being
a'le to shine even by the reflected
light Of the stronger SEX" has been
brought to realizing sense Of the
cause Of her own miserable condition
by perusal Of the JuURNAL,s last
saturday Night" She makes the
following vigorous reply:
Why, it never before fl ,shed upon
our benighted mind, W hat an "unnum-
bered and uncounted appeudage Of
society" we are
We had always been laboring under
the hallucination that we are queens In
5 ciety, 'created to rule, but not IN
battle the petted favorites of chlval-
rOus knights who safely shelter US
from perilous contact with the busy
wjrld,and VINO are to women a Pharos
10 time Of darkness, shelter 10 time
Of storm, the maintainer and defender
of her honor, the pride and " Of her
womanhood.
We never could see why woman
would wlsh to abdicate the throne of
power where God had placed her 1.-THE
home) for the emoluments of,f,me 10
much sought after by men, in any line
Of life, when she Is already, instead of
"kiud of nebulae, dimly perceived"
the sun Of mau's existeuce, and the
more remote she Is from masculine pur-
suits, the more resplendently che shines
in her proper sphere, the animaling
principle Of all that is beet and purest
10 society. She not only "rocks the
cradle of the world" but builds the
worlds best characters; makes the un-
lovely, lovely; eradicates evil and i'm
plants good; alleviates woe, sooth,s the
sorrows Of life, civilizes the natural
barbarity Of man. aud, whatever is
noblest and grandest In life, is usually
the outgrowth of her power.
What better or truer picture Of her
usefulness could be held up to the
worlds view than that which the
JOURNAL gives?
"She rears our children, maintains
our churches, teaches our schools, pre-
pares our meals and attends to keeping
our home comfortable" and vet, "she
is dimly perceived" "blotted out"
"eclipsed by the male SEX"
She lie as plainly seen, as much recog
nized by the seeing, in the obscurity OF
the nursery, the schoolroom or the
kitchen, AZ when she Is rolling along
the highway In bloomers, on her
swiftly gliding wheel, or on the ros-
trum pleading for woman's rights, or
in our legislative halls rs senator or
clerk, or writing brainy articles on
dress reform or heather missions.
Blotted out indeed, when she is the
morning star Of youth, the evening
star of manhood, shining with bright
enlng splendor in her life Of loving
self.sacrifice, a "llving epistle known
and read of all men,"
"Eclipsed by the male sex !" as well
talk of ecipsing the light Of the sun
with the flash Of Luclfer match. We
think we see with more perfect vision
than does The JOURNAL why "this
mystery of the universe exists" 1t is
the hiduen mystery Of Gods wisdom
for the evolution Of mankind TO the
possibilities of Godlikeness when
woman essays to be manlike in pursuit
of position, the foundational stones OF
human progress will receive shock,
which nothing can repair but woman's
retreat to domestic 'obscunty" with
steady hand on the check-reIns of fem
mime thirst for masculine equality.
In the shadow Of retirement she Is
strong for social development-servlc-
able for the life that now 10, and nur-
turing that which is to come. The
JOURNAL thinks this environment and
obscurity twill end In the making OF
that she will some day
come to "what God has prepared for
herr
She is already an "empress" In the
purest and happiest realm that exists
on earth, gently but pOtently swaying
the sceptre of domestic empire. Long