Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1897-07-29
Women S Disabilities.
TBy Lady Cook, nee Tennessee c. claHin.I

TBy Lady Cook, nee Tennessee c. Clahin.I
Suppose our legislators in their wis
dom had laid it down that no red-headed
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 should pay all
imperial and other taxes but have no
voice in their making; and that while
heads of all other colors-black, brown,
white and gray-might hold any posi-
ton, red-heads should be religiOusly eX-
cuded from every important one. No
one would be surprised under such cir
cumstanCes to know that a constant agi-
tation 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 unreasonable to disfran-
chise q man for the color of his hair
than it is to disfranchise 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 intoler-
able for those, is regarded with equa-
nimity for these, Let us consider for q
moment few Of the inequalities under
which our COuntryWOmen labor, and we
will begin with them from the begin
ct ~ riY,lc hoN ho
same liberty of movement as boys.
They may not even walk out alone;
they must not talk the same language,
learn the same lessons, nor indulge in
the same sports Boys may be careless
and bolsterOus, 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 this from no incapacity
On the girls part, for, if permitted they
could rival boys in play and work.
Having arrived at puberty, their bonds
are tightened just as their dresses are
heightened. They may not speak to
one of the other sex until he has first
been formally introduced by a friend or
relative. They are SO carefully guarded
that they compensate themselves by
clandestine methods. Already the girl
is slave, and she practices a slaves s de-
vices. She becomes an adept at subter-
fuge and hypocrisy. At length, when
manageable, marriage is sought, but
she may not make it known. Should
she meet the man into whose hands
alone she could gladly place her des-
tinies, 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 propose; she
not. And thus longing to be a wife and
mother, she must Wither in her vir-
glnlty unless chance direct an offer; or
an alternative presents itself She is
sought III marriage, so-called by 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 a long career
of vice, and be physically and mentally
enervated and diseased She may
really loathe him, but she is taught by
her own 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
authority. What was the devotion of
Jephtha's daughter to this? One stroke
of the sacrlticial knife, and all was over;
but the other endures a lifelong mar
tyrdom. And this is marriage, this aw-
ful conjunction Of decrepitude and
strength, of lust and innocence, of foul
ness and purity. Scheming relatives
may fling the healthy, happy, ingen-
nous maiden into the arms of diseased
roue, and tine law will allow it and the
Church bless it. Let who will honor it
with the holy name, we brand it prosti-
tuition. For true marriage is a spiritual
and mental eXOsmOse and endOsmose.
Each gives of It's own to each until both
are alike. 1t is natural and sponta-
neOus union of ideas, aims and svmpa-
tines. In the alembic of love, two ma
lures, the compliments Of each other,
are unconsciously and invisiblv united
more firmly than in any chemical union.
Even at the affairs of our churches
woman is deceived and defrauded.
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 still absolutely his.
She has, with his consent, simply a use
in common during his life, and he can
will away from her everything he pos
sesses, and leave her penniless and des-
titute after years of wifely service, dur
ing which her care and industry NAV
have multiplied his good" exceed
ingly. Her jewels and trinkets, if
dubbed "heirlooms," will be taken from
her, and should she have no son, a
stranger, if her husbands nearest rela-
tive, may dispossess her of the home
where she has passed her welded life.
Where there are sons and daughters.
the disparity between the sexes is still
maintained. The great idea is ever
Man-never Woman. For him are, the
titlaS frea holds foctcriaS ,,or+porcb1,,c