Year: 1867

IhluconoAA lot hNtHfAuk pNlOnW NhNH HIV-
vinoel Is il good for y man TO pass his
life in close communion Of thoughts and


feelings, with person studiously kept in


ferior to himself Whose earthly interests


are forcibly restrained within four wallis


who is taught to cultivate as grace Of


character ignorance and indifference about


the most inspiring subjects, those among


which his highest duties are cast Does


auy one suppose that this can happen with.


oul detriment to the mans own character


woMAN's INTEREST IN PUBLIC QUESTIONS


II may be said that women can take in.


terest in great national questions without


having a vote. Certainly they can but


how many of them willH All that society


and education can do is exhausted in in.


culcating in women that their rule Of con.


duet ought to be what society expects from


them. And the denial of tho vote is a


proclamation iutelligible to every one, that |
society does not expect them TO concern |
themselves with public questions. Why, |
the whole of girls thoughts and feelings |
are toned down by it from her earliest
school days. She does not take the interest
even in national history that a boy does,
because il is to be no business of hers when


she grows up. IF there arc wonen--and
fortunately there are now--who do care
about those subjects and study them, il is


because the force within is powerful enough
to bear up against the worst kind of dis
couragcment, that which acts not by inter
posing obstacles which may be struggled
against, but by deadening the spirit which
faces and conquers obstacles.


DO WOMEN WANT THE BALoTH


We are told that women do not wish for
the suffrage. II this be 30 it only proves


that nearly all women are still under this


deadeniug iniluence-that the opiaie still


benumbs thor minds aud conscences. But


there are many women who do desire the


suffrage, aud have claimed it by petitions


to this house. How do We know how


many more thousands there are who have


not asked for what they do not hope to get


for fear OF being i'll thought of by men or


by other women, or from the feeling so


sodulously cultivated by the whole of their


education--aversion to mako themselves


conspicuous. Men must have great
faculty of setf.deusion if they suppose that


leading questions put to the ladies Of their


families or Of their acquaintance will elicit


their sentlments--will be answered with


entire sincerity by one woman in ten thous-


and. No one is so well schooled as moSt


women are of making virtue of necessity.


1t costs little to disclaim caring for what
is not offered. but fraukness in expressing
fully what may be disagreeable or conflict


ing to their recent convictions is not one
of those virtues which woman education
tends to cultivate. At all events those who
do not care for the suffrage will not use it.
Either they will not register, or If they do,
they will vote as their male relatives advise
them, by which, as the advantage would
be about equally shared among all classes,
: no harm would be done. Those who,
whether few or many, do value the priv
ilege would exercise it, and so experience
that stimulus to their faculties which the
suffrage seldom fails to exert over every
class admitted to share it. Meanwhile an
unworthy stigma would be taken off the
whole sex. They would DO no longer
classed with children, idiots, and lunntics
> laugher1, or incapable of taking care of
: themselves or others. lf only one woman
: in twenty thousand used the vote it would
be gain to all women to be declared ca.
pable of usi it.


POLITICAL POWER.


II is said that women do not want direct
! political power, because they have 80 much
indirect political power through the iLilu.
ence they have over thoir male relatives and
connections. l should like to try this argu-
ment in othor cases. Rich people have a
great deal of indirect influence. Is this
reason for denying them vote ? Did any


one ever propose a reform bill to dsfran-
chise every one who lived in G500 year


house and paid Gl00 year in direct taxesP


Unless this rule OF distributing the franchise
is TO be reserved for the exclusive benefit


of women the legitimate consequences of il
. will be that persons above a certain amount
of fortune should be allowed to bribe but
not to vote.


1t is true that women have already great
, power. 1t is part of my case that they
= have great power but they have it
under the worst conditions, because it
, is indirect, and therefore irresponsible,
| want to make this responsible power.
| want to make tho influence of woman
l. work by manly interchange of opinion
, a laugh), and not by cajolery. / want to
,, The man alone whom she influences is
alone responsible. Her power is like that
of the backstairs influence Of a favorite.


| demand that all who exercise power
J should have the burden laid on them Of
knowing something of the things which
they have power over. With an admitted
right to vote would come q sense of the
corresponding duty. A woman is not
/, generally inferior to man in tenderness of
conscience, and she will understand that


political honesty is not foolish personal
crotchet but serious duty.


PROTECTION by SUFFRAGE.


1t may be said that women, as women,
, suffer no practical Inconvenience by not
. being represented, that their interests arc
/ safer in the hands of their fathers and
husbands It is exactly what has been said
[ of all other unrepresented classes. Are
: not, it is asked, the operatives represented
) by their employers, both having a common
interest? To insinuate the contrary is the
. horrible crime Of setting class against cass.
8 We are not living in Arcadia, but as lately
!. remarked, in face ROmuii, and ia that egion
n workmen need other protection than that
of their masters, and women than that of
, their men. should like to see a return
n OF the number of women annually beaten to
Q death, kicked to death, and trodden to
, death by their male protectors. ] should
1 like this return to have c6ldthn Of the
I sentences passed in tile cases in which the
criminal did not get off altogether, and a
n third column of tile comparative view of
' the amount of property the unlawfu! taking
!. of which had in the same session been by


the same judge of law thought worthy OF the
3 same degree Of punishment. We should
I thus obtain an arithmetical estimate of the
4 value set by the male legislature and male
}. tribunals on the murder Of a woman by
/ habittal torture-Oiten prolonged for years