The herald., 1896-07-12

Ill1cb Wueu Luty uSeQ u 30 u CHURCH,,
the men sat In one part Of the building
and the women in another, and the boys
and girls were also separated. We Of the
present have advanced SO far beyond
that that we not only sit together. kneel
together. stand together, but go home
with each other The distinctions then
for the purpose of worship have been
dropped, and believe that many women
now occupy places in the councils of
/ the church. Women now go to the same
postofices, the same theaters, ride in
! the same street cars unattended save by
the driver, walk up and down the same
sidewalks as men, drive on the same
thoroughfares, buy their groceries Of
men, hire them to drive their carriages
and employ them as gardeners They
transact business with them generally,
whenever they have any to transact
but they couldn't go to the polls where
men are for fear Of being insulted. AL
| out of crowd of men where
there is one who would dare
insult or swear in the pres
| ence of woman, there would be several
who would give that man his quietus.
If this be not so then for one would be
In favor of introducing the time-honored
| law Of Delaware, that a man who swearS
even In the presence of another may be
sentenced to be tied to the public whip
| ping post and lashed.
The difference between a male and q
| female in the eyes of the law is that q
male Is minor until he becomes 21
| years of age, woman Is minor until
she dies. Our system of government
differs from the Russian in this respect
there they have one czar for the whole
| people-here we have one over every
| family.
| 1t does seem rather ridiculous that an
| educated and intelligent woman may be
| the mother of son, may nurse him in
| his Infancy, care for him during boy
| hood, provide for him for the futrue by
leaving him her all, which represents
| her lifelong struggle, but that the mo-
ment he reaches his majority he thereby
becomes by operation Of law her mas
ter and she becomes the slave of the
| law he makes; he dictates to her how
she may dispose of her property; he tells
her what rights she has when married,
in fact, Is her legislator. judge and jury
man, congressman and senator. yet she
may earn her own living and pay her
| own taxes, and If she breaks his law she
must suffer the penalty imposed by him.
We call her quenn. She is not queen,
| for she has no power; she Is not even
| subject. But did she desire to become
a queen with half the vim and ambition
Of Lady Macbeth. I should rest my head
lightly and uneasily upon my pillow at
night and live in deadly terror of her
awful revenge. If woman were Of q
revolutionary turn of mind she would
have had good cause for declaring war
against the sterner sex. Taxation with
out resentation-unequal discrimina-
ton before the eyes Of the law-pun-
ishment under law without right to
hand in the making of that law-dei
prived of her property rights-restrained
| from obtaining the same advantages
from governmental offices and favors;
all these and more would be her battle
Vyvxk to- - INt~~
BILE set Of beings. they appeal only to
| our sense Of justice and fair play
And now in return for her forbear-
| ance from using force let us take light
glance at her interest. Women for GEN.
| turtles in China have arrested the growth
of their pedal extremities by placing
| them in tight fitting shoes, so that now
their feet are naturally of diminutive
| proportions; I do not wish to be under
stood to contradict the existence of this
| custom in this country; they have done
the same thing here, nor is 1t the only
| tight fitting garment they have worn to
| their detriment. But wish to call your
attention to a much worse custom i'm
| posed upon women by the men of this
| country. 1t is the incasing of their in
tellectual power within the four walls
| of the nursery. By our limiting their
| sphere of usefulness they have cramped
| their powers, their intellects have been
dwarfed from lack of use and their ambi
| ton has been checked. If the same
| conditions continue, women will contin-
ue to be handicapped. She lives but
for her lord, and beginning at the time
| in that of his. Like the old English ten
ures when q greater and a lesser claim
met in one person, the lesser claim met
| in one person, the lesser claim is merged
| in the greater. Bellamy has said in his
| Looking Backward. If we had had to
Il I4n1 rnf1 rsek4 L
| softened our brains or driven us mad.
A rose would lose its lovely tint If trained
| to suoh a life, and woman, too, If we
persist too long In her imprisonment,
must needs wither: we cannot give her
vital growth again. In order for her
| to recover her natural and normal state,
| to develop anew that wonderfully fer
tile mind of hers, woman needs new life,
| freedom of restraint and equal privil-
| eyes with man.
| Some people seem to have an idea that
| when woman comes to vote this service
| from her other duties. This, of course,
would be matter Of deep regret and
serious consequences. But it is not so.
They can vote only on election days,
the same as men. and at any time be-
tween sunrise and sunset, unless out of
| courtesy the law should allot them some
particular hour But If any voters had
to cast as many ballots or as often as the
| opposition to this movement assume
| women will have to when they ACQUIRE
| the right of suffrage then upon that
plan 1t would be impossible for any re-
public to exist. The wheels of industry
would soon cease, professional men would
! neglect their patrons, fathers and babes
would grow hungry, until finally we
| would welcome the most cruel tyrant as
ruler, as grand relief from such
burden. This argument of theirs Is but
| an indication of the real interest woman
| would feel In using her right.
| And now in the twilight Of the nine
| teenth century, in this glorious republic
! of ours, where our general intelligence
| Is superior to that of any former ma
| tion, where freedom has it's home, liberty
is our Watchword, and equality our
boast, are we to allow blind prejudice
to persuade us from our course? Is q
progressive nation like ours to be fet-
| tered by immemorial custom? Are we
| to persist in Withholding from one-half
OF the nation their rights because such
| state of affairs has existed "for so long
time that the memory of man runneth
| not to the contrary?" I think not. Law
and custom were made for man and not
| man for them. When law and custom
| are clearly wrong out of respect for
| himself man should change them when
| no ones interests are thereby prejudiced,
and not out of respect to bad law and
custom continue to live under them,
| One man by freeing an enslaved and
| down trOdden but ignorant people and
! nrOCurfney tharn bo rioIt re ec,,c .~~