The herald., 1896-06-21
Womsn's Ideal Rights

Womsn's Ideal Rights
SundayHerald set aside to the discussion
Of the woman suffrage question, lifted
up her voice last Sunday in sweet-girl-
graduate accents against the recogni-
ton by men of the right OF their moth
ers, wives and sisters to be regarded and
treated as their equals. Her opposition
to the removal of the disabilities i'm
posed upon women by the men who
made the constitution of the state, in
limiting the elective franchise to mascu-
line citizens, seems to be based upon the
curious assumption that woman is vast
ly superior to man--that she Is OF
higher order Of beings. created by God
to be a connecting link" between Him
self and men; that she Is the last and
noblest creation Of all His wonderful
works." that this supreme achievement
of creative power was designed and ex-
ecuted by the Almighty to be gentle
helpmate for man, the lower being; to
strengthen him for the battle Of life to
the point of impregnability by 'twining
the armor of her love" around him, and
AS a compensation for such obliglng
and agreeable services-to be sheltered
by him from the storms of adversely.
which If allowed to rudely pelt her
might interrupt the protective 'twining
and impair her efficiency as help
IHdtc. vi COulSCs IL iOiiOWo % tiC
night the day. that woman, being made
by act Of God the superior of man In the
scale Of being, to link him to the skies,
should not by man be recognized as an
equal in right, privileges and powers
this side of the skies, but ought to be
kept by him in subsection. that she may
the better fulfill her high destiny as a
twiner and gentle helpmate, and, with
becoming gratitude and pride wear the
crown of motherhood whenever 1t shall
please him to will her coronation.
"Calirmar' is Of opinion that there is
no right "grander, sweeter, nobler than
the right of maternity" and that wom-
an, endowed with that transcendent
right, should ask for nothing more. But
it's possession does not require the sur
render of other rights which are just as
clearly hers by divine decree. or author
ize her to treat them with indifference
and allow them to be wrested from her.
A woman can be mother and an elect
or as well as a man can be an elector
and father. The duties of maternity
are but little more engrossing and exact
ing than the duties of paternity, and un
doubtedly those can best perform them
who have the great advantage Of the
fullest enfranchisement The possess
sion of political powers prompts and i'm
pels the possessOr to acquire the knowl-
edge of affairs of vital Importance to ALL
necessary to their intelligent and right
full exercise. Hence it Is educational
and of great value to every citizen, male
or female, mother or father, young man
or maiden, and it is the duty, as we'll
as the right. of every Individual man and
woman to demand imperatively and per-
sistently, the fullest enfranchisment by
the constitution and the laws. Those
who, without resistance or protest, sub
init to robbery, make themselves more
or less responsible for the crime, and it
makes no difference whether the thing
Of which they are bereft is money or
political rights. They cannot justify
their spiritless, craven acquiescence by
the plea that they did not care for the
things taken from them. All human
beings born into this country are per-
fectly equal in natural rights, and the
civil rights based upon them-in those
rights which make the distinction, po-
litcal and legal between citizens and
aliens, and none do or can possess the
right to abridge the rights Of others or
determine the sphere" or occupations
of any class or individual.
The right of suffrage, therefore, be-
longs to woman as freely as to man.
They derive it not from men, but from
Him who made them human beings. The
muniments of their title are Identical
with those by which the men maintain
their own, and they are not in a favor
able position to deny such title. These
views are sustained by our national
declaration of rights and by that of
every state, and are in strict accord
with the canons of equity and justice.
The power to exercise their rights has
been taken from women by the men,
in violation of every principle upon
which their own rights, privileges and
franchises are asserted and maintained,
and every consideration Git would be a
grave abuse of the word to say argu-
n hy n tn1, o.
justify the outrage, serves only to show
the weakness Of their defense against
the charge of unmanliness and tyranny,
justly preferred and vigorously pressed
by the women who know how grievous-
ly they are wronged.
Calirmar is, no doubt, one of those
weak, gentle, altruistic creatures whose
ideal of womanhood is derived from the
story of the spiritless Griselda, who
think it sublime mission to be the
wife of one unjust and narrow minded
man and the mother of some others of
the same sort, who, like sweet Alice in
the beautiful song, weep tears of de-
light on receipt of; a kiss and tremble
with fear at frown; who practice self
effacement as a primal duty of woman
and cannot understand how it will be
possible in the nearing days of perfect
equality for wife and mother to take
an interest In public affairs and perform
her duty as an Tnfranchised citizen
without renouncing all her feminine
functions. casting off her womanly
charms and graces, making her home
a childless den of filth and squalor, as
foul as Vulcan's smithy. instead of the
cosy and wholesome bower Of beauty
and love. she might make if she would
only be contented with the exclusively
feminine right to be a mother But
there really seems to be little reason
to fear that when the ballot shall have
been put into the hands of women our
homes will become dreary, childless and
feculent. and that women will repudiate
the duties and functions for which they
are especially fitted by the Creator, and
which their natural instincts and tastes,
with resistless Importantly. demand
that they shall always perform. The
honors and joys Of wifehood and mater
nifty will be quite as much coveted and
as fully appreciated by women when
they shall be possessed of the power to
secure just and wholesome laws to rear