Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1910-02-17

WOMEN AND ANCIENT CUSTOM.
(By Mrs. Judith Hyams Douglas
Of New Orleans.)

Thre Is only one thing that can
make me see the business Of women
| being classed with the idiot, the in
sane, and the criminal, and that
thing Is, II woman is willing, II she
is satisfied to be SO classed.
If she Is satisfied to remain In the
circumscribed limits which corrupt
customs and parverted application Of
the Scriptures have marked out for
her, then and only then Is woman
justly classed. For 1t is idiotic not
to want ones liberty; it is insane not
to value ones inalienable rights;
and 1t Is criminal to neglect ones
God-given responsibilities.
God placed woman, originally as
ultimately, In the same sphere with
man, with the same inspirations
and aspirations, the same emotions
and intellectkand accountability.
Eve couldeno more escape punish
ment for her individual act than COZ Id
Adam. Nor can woman today escape
condemnation If she is satisfied to re-
main in the customs of ancient bar
I barism. ! i.
The Cinnamon for centuries have
taken peculiar means of restgict-
ing woman's activities. They have
bound the feet Of the girl babies as
In q wise, combining them to inactiv-
ity and uselessness, because the
Cinnamon claim that, the smaller q
womanis foot, the more elevated
her ladyship.
One significant fact about this is
that, after centuries of constralnt,
God continues to send the female
child into the world with feet vel
formed, with foundation as sub
stantial to stand upon as that of the
male child. AS in this instance. sc
in all cases of restrictions put upon
woman they do not come from
God. but from man, beginning al
birth.
Like the Chinese, all nations have
bound, not only the body, but the
mind and soul OF woman, with the
mummy bands Of aged customs. con,
tininR woman's Rctivities-men claim
ing, as the Cinnamon, that the small
or woman's sphere. the more refined
her ladyship.
For thousands of centuries, man
has said that woman must keep silent
in the churches, and that she must
Eobey her husband, that she must not
earn her own living; that woman
must be blindfold to injustice, and
tongue-tied upon all public questions.
But Is woman satisfied with eternal
tutelage? Is not a mothers wisdom
too ripe to need tutelage from her
sons?
The time has come for women to
out-grow the adolescent period OF
platitudes, and to resent being child
ishly called the better half of man, =
while being treated legally as de-
generate, irresponsible, and menace
to the public at large.
As the heathens have outgrown
the custom of drowning their babies
| because of their sex, SO woman should
outgrow all customs that seek to
drown woman's identity, solely be-
cause of her sex.
These can never be destroyed until
women unite to overcome sex pre-
| woman is woman's friend, until
/ judice.7 y
The thing for woman to do Is to
blaze the way Of her sex so thorough
ly that sixteen-yerr-old boys in the
next generation win not dare ask
q 6SAQA0eAy WOAAA0AA AANA Q40AO0SAJ
IF she. really thinks women have
sense enough to vote?" Woman can
i enter into the larger sphere her
great Creator has assigned her. only
when she has an equal voice with
man in forming public opinion, which
chrystalizes customs; only when hel
voice is heard in the pulpit. applying
Scripture to the man and woman
equally, and when woman.s voice is
heard in the legislature. Only then
can be realized the full import OF
Gods word when He said 1T is not
we'll for men to be alone"
To move in this sphere, all women
will have to unite in q godly zeal fol-
public good, progressive force, and
permanent values, as did Lucy
Stone, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and
Susan B. Anthony-the three wise
women at the East, who first pointed
toward the star of hope for the
dawning OF good will toward woman
kind.-From address given at the
National Suffrage Convention II
Buffalo, N. Y. Oct. is. 1908.