Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1900-03-15

at the washtub. 1t Is as honorable to
sweep house, make beds or trim hats
as 1t Is to twist watch chain.
So far as can understand, the line
of responsibility lies between that
which is useful and that which Is use
less. II women do that which is of no
value their work Is honorable. II they
do practical work, it Is dishonorable.
That our young women may escape
the censure of doing dishonorable
work, l shall particularize. You may
knit a tidy for the back of an arm
chair, but by no means make the
money wherewith to buy the chair.
You may with a delicate brush beauti-
fly a mantel ornament, but die rather
than earn enough to buy a marble
mantel You may learn artistic music
until you can squall Italian, but never
sing "Ortonville" or "Old Hundredth."
Do nothing practical If you would, in
the eyes of, refined society, preserve
your responsibility. l scou' these
finical notions. / tell you d woman.
no more than man, has a right to
occupy a place in this world unless
she pays a rent for it.
In the course of a lifetime you con-
sumo whole harvests and droves OF
cattle and every day you live and
! breathe forty hogsheads of good, pure
air. You must by some kind of use
fulness pay for all this. Our race was
the last thing created-the birds and
| fishes on the fourth day, the cattle and
lizards on the fifth day and man on
the sixth day. If biologists are right,
the earth was 100000 of years in
! the possession of the insects, beasts
and birds before our race came upon it.
In one sense we were invaders. The
cattle, the lizards and the hawks had
not what we are to do with the lizards
and summer insects, but what the
lizards and summer insects are to do
with us. If we want a place in this
world, we must earn 1t. The partridge
makes its own nest before it occupies
it. The lark by it's morning song
earns it's breakfast before 1t eats it.
and the Bible gives an intimation that
the first duty Of an idler Is to starve
when it says, If he will not work,
neither shall he eat" Idleness ruins
the health, and very soon nature says:
This man has refused to pay his rent.
Out with him!" Society is to be re-
constructed on the subject Of woman's
toll. vast majority Of those who
would have woman Industrious shut
her up to few kinds Of work. My
judgment in this matter is that
woman has a right to do anything that
she can do we'll. There should be no
department of merchandise, mechan-
ism, art or science barred against her.
II Miss Hosmer has genius for sculp-
ture, give her chisel If Rosa Bon
heur has a fondness for deineating
animals, let her make THE Horse
Fair" If Miss Mitchell will study as
tronomy, let her mount the starry lad
der If Lydia will be a merchant, let
her sell purple. If Lucretia Mott will
preach the gospel, let her thrill with
her womanly eloquence the Quaker
meeting house.
The Rights Of woman.
Il is said If woman is given such
opportunities she will occupy places
that might be taken by men. say If
she have more skill and adaptness for
any position than a man has, let her
have it! She has as much right to her
bread. to her apparel and to her home |
as men have. But 1t is said that her |
nature is so delicate that she is I'M
fitted for exhausting toll. l ask in the |
name of all past history what toll on
earth Is more severe, exhausting and |
tremendous than that toll of the nee
die to which for ages she has been
subjected? The battering ram, the |
sword, the carhine, the battleax, have |
made no such havoc as the needle. |
would that these living sepulchres in |
which women have for ages been bur- |
led might be opened and that some |
resurrection trumpet might bring up
these living corpses to the fresh air !
and sunlight.
Go with me and l Will show you a |
woman who by hardest toll supports |
her children, her drunken husband,
her old father and mother. pays her |
house rent, always has wholesome |
food on her table, and when she can |
get some neighbor on the Sabbath to |
come in and take care of her family |
appears in church with hat and cloak |
that are far from indicating the toll |
to which she is subjected. Such a |
woman as that has body and soul
enough to fit her for any position.
She could stand beside the majority
of our statesmen and dispose of more
goods. She could go into your wheel |
wright shops and beat one-half of your
workmen at making carriages. We
taII about women as though we had
resigned to her all the light work and |
ourselves had shouldered the heavier.
But the day of judgment, which will
reveal the sufferings of the stake and
inquisition, will marshal before the
throne of God and the hierarchs of
heaven the martyrs of washtub and
needle. Now, l say, If there be any
preference in occupation. let woman
have it. God knows her trials are the
severest. By her acuter sensitiveness
to misfortune, by her hour of anguish,
l demand that no one hedge up her
pathway to a livelihood Oh, the
meanness, the despicability of men
who begrudge a woman the right to
work anywhere in any honrable call
ing!
The Source OF Strength.
Poets are fond OF talking about man
as an oak and woman the vine that