Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1901-08-24
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WASHINGTON. Aug. 1S.-In this dis
course DR.. Talmage extols home as q
field of usefulness and especially en-
cOurages wives and mothers; text, Gen
esis |, %, male and female created he
them"
In other words, God, who can make
no mistake. made man and woman fol-
specific work and 10 move In partic-
ular spheres, man 10 be regnant in his
realm, woman TO be dominant in hers.
The boundary line between Italy and
Switzerland. between England and
Scotland, is not more thoroughly mark
ed than this distinction between the
empire masculine and the empire fem
mime. So entirely dissimllar are the
fields to which God called them that
you can no more compare them than
you can oxygen and hydrogen. water
and grass. trees and stars. All this
talk about the superiority Of one sex
TO the other sex Is an everlasting waste
Of ink and speech. a jeweler may
have scale so delicate that he can
weigh the dust of diamonds. but where
are the scales so delicate that you can
weigh In them affection against affec-
tiOn. sentiment against sentiment.
thought against thought, soul against
soul, mans word against woman's
word?
You come out with the stereotyped
remark that man is superior to woman
In intellect. and then open on my
desk the swarthy. iron typed. thunder
bolted writings of Harriet Martineau
and Elizabeth Browning and George
Eliot. You come on with your stereo-
typed remark about woman's superior
ity to man In the item of affection, but
ask you where was there more ca
pacity to love than in John. the disci-
pie, and Robert McCheyne. the Scotch
man. and John Summerfeld. the Meth
odist, and Henry Martyr. the mission
aryf The heart of those men was so
large that after you had rolled into it
the hemispheres there was room still
left to marshal the hosts Of heaven and
set up the throne Of the eternal Jeho-
yah. l deny to man the throne intellec-
tual / deny TO woman the throne af-
fectional. No human phraseology will
ever define the spheres. while there is
an intuition by which we know when
a man is In his realm and when a wo-
man Is In her realm and when either of
them Is out Of II. No bungling legisla-
ture ought to attempt to make defini-
ton or to say. This Is the line and
that Is the line"
Woman's Sphere.
My theory is that II woman wants to |
vote she ought to vote and that If a |
man wants to embroider and keep |
house he ought to be allowed to en-
broider and keep house. There are
masculine women and there are effemi-
nate men. My theory is that you have
no right to interfere with any ones do
ing anything that is righteous. Albany
and Washington might as we'll decree
by legislation how high a brown
tbrasher should fly or how deep trout
should plunge as to try to seek out the
height or the depth of woman's duty.
The question of capacity will settle
finally the whole question, the whole
subject. When woman is prepared to
preach, she will preach. and neither
nor presbytery can hinder
her. When a woman is prepared to
move In highest commercial spheres,
she will have great influence on the
exchange. and no boards of trade can
hinder her. | want woman to under
stand that heart and brain can over
fiow any barrier that politicians may
set up and that nothing can keep her
back or keep her down but the ques-
ton Of capacity.
i know there are women Of most un-
desirable nature who wander up and
Town the country. having no homes of
heir own or forsaking their own
homes. talking about their rights. and
we know very well that they them
selves are fit neither TO vote nor fit to
Keep house. Their mission seems to be
70 huniliate the two sexes at the
thought OF what any one Of US might
become. No one would want to live un-
Ter the laws that such women would I
'nact or to have cast upon society the 4
hildren that such women would raise. l
But l will show you that the best
lights that woman can own she al I
eady has In her possession, that her D.,
position In this country at this time is I
lot one OF commiseration, but one of I
generalization; that the grandeur and I
'ower Of her realm have never yet I
'een appreciated. that she sits today on "
throne so high that all the thrones Of o
arth piled on top Of each other would n
lot make for her a footstool. Here Is
he platform on which she stands I,
way down below It are the ballot box N
nd the congressional assemblage and \
be legislative hail. N
The Mothers Influence. 81
Woman always has voted and always n
7ill vote. Our great-grandfathers Il
bought they were by their votes put II
ing Washington into the presidential AZ
hair. No. His mother. by the princi- G.
les she taught him and by the habits 10
be inculcated. made him president. II Y,
as a Christian mothers hand drop Of
Ing the ballot when Lord Bacon wrote. n
nd Newton philosophical. and Alfred &c
he Great governed. and Jonathan Ed
ards Numbered Of judgment to come n,
low many men there have been In h,
Ugh political station who would have II,
cen insufficient to stand the test to m
'hlch their moral principle was put II,
ad II not been for wlfe's voice that he
lcouraged them to do right and W
tfe's prayer that sounded louder than Of
le clamor Of partisanship! Why. my tr
lends, the right of suffrage as we %
en- exercise 1t seems to be a feeble ha
ing. You, Christian man, come up m
the ballot box, and you drop your de