Year: 1868

not do just what woman can do, nor


do it as we'll; and part of it he can


not do at all. I claim that the great


function of woman is to be a loyal


wife and loving mother and I defy


the world to prove that a man can do


that at all.


1 assert that there is no work in this


world equal or comparable to the pro-


duction of a royal race of men and


women and that I affirm TO be the


greatest, vitalest, noblest work WO-
man can do. affirm that no woman,


be she doctor, artist, writer, law-mak-
er, or soldier, can do anything compar-
able TO that. / affirm that, the very
moment she abandons her great work,
and attempts to do the work Of man she
is likely to fail; and if she proposes
to subvert the laws of her own being,
which are the laws of the Creator, she
will go to the wall.


In the great businesses of the world,


woman can not compete with man,
because she can not do them as well.
She is perpetual invalid, as all know,
and can not be relied upon to do
mans work year in and year out that
is one great fact of her existence which
cannot be ignored, and it settles the
question, if nothing else did it, Of her
inability to compete with man.


There is no worlds work in which
she is equal to man; not even in some
directions where men fancy she is su-
preme. Man inYents and works out
plates which show woman how she is
to dress herself; and even in cutting
and making her own dresses, man is
superior. One small fact viii explain
this curious inability to do business;
for several thousands of years woman
has insisted upon buttoning her own
clothes, and her children's clothes be-
hind so that by no possibility can
they dress themselves without help.
1t is most curious and significant.


I may grant and must grant that
woman does now and then do perfect
work out of her home, but 1 must be,
lieve it to be exceptional. She has
not the fibre to compete with man
her skin and her flesh and her very
bones are different. Now, what does
this mean? Does it mean that man
is unjust to woman, or is it God who
is accused? No; this revulsion which
is going on in civilized societies against
marriage is significant of much and
its evils will fall first and heaviest
upon woman. What, then can she do
to protect herself? That is the vital
question.


She wishes to be married, or she
ought to; how can she secure it? Not
by being useless and ignorant, not by
being spendthrift, not by being in
competent for the great business of
wife and mother, not by being whim-
sical and ill-tempered, ,(either before or
after marriage), not by being careless
and Indifferent to all the world but
herself, not by being a fauit-fnding
and dissatisfied woman. Just the re-
verse of these will insure marriage. /
But now we come to a difficult, almost
question: How are
those who do not, or can not or will
not marry to live? Some occupations
they must have, and I believe they
are not competent to cope with man
in the great business of the world. Ifl
they are, if they wish to, there is
nothing to hinder-the great business
es are all open; as merchant, manu-
facturer, farmer, writer, publisher, &c,
can prevent her success if she
has it in her to do it.


But if she is to expect marriage and |
then drop her business, she will never
do it thoroughly and successfully. It |
has been tried, and always failed |
But who will hinder her from at
and filling any part she can
ell, and will? Who will hesitate to |
pay her the same wages, for the same |
work, as a man? Let woman manu-
facture as good locomotives, or import |
rs good teas, or produce as good books, |
Or grow as good wheat, as a man, and !
she can command the same price. But |
If she rUshes into the businesses which !
are overstocked, she must take what
wages she can get, and they will be
poor or if she be a poor, careless
she will go to the wall, of
course. There is no pity in the laws
Of God, nor much in the hearts of man.