Year: 1870

England between inc ldI IhdH UdzeItt
and the Spectator, about what the Spec
tator calls the Physiology of Political
Women" the question being, what will
be the probable effect on womens physi-
cal health of their participation in poll
tios The Pail Mall Gazette thinks it
will break them down through over-ex-
citement while the Spectator is satisfied
that we cannot judge what its effects will
be from what we see Of the results of wo-
mems excitement now, inasmuch as the
" excitement to which they are exposed
in our day is Society excitement, coupled
with late hours bad air, and unwholcsome
food. The excitement Of politics, ON the
whole, it thinks likely to be wholesome, ,and
cites the vigorous health of female poll
ticians, like Elizabeth of England, Maria
Theresa of Austria,a and Catharine of Rus
sia, in support of its position. The mat
ter seems very interesting in presence of
the fact that We are evidently on the verge
of seeing female suffrage adopted in sew
era of the States, and that in two Of the
Territories, Wyoming and Utah, it is al
ready in operation.


The true reason for believing that po.
litical excitement will not prove injurious
to women is, in our opinion, to be found
in the fact that it is not very injurious to
men, n,-manly that the great mass of
them will keep out of politics and will
not get excited about It, There is pro-
badly no country in the world in which
the interest in politics is SO general as it
is in this and yet when we came come
down to the hard facrs of the case, the
number of men who pay enough attention
to politics to distract their attention from
their private affairs, or indeed who get
in the least degree wrought up about
them n,--exceot at great crises, such as the
late war. which do not come in any coun-
try more than once in couple Of centu-
ries,-is exceedingly small. There is
class who are excited about them and
whose nerves the fortunes of political,
compaigns really shake. but they are the
politicians proper, who, like the pugilists,
choose this line Of occupation because
they like it and feel equal to it. The
sensitive, nervous men who cannot stand
the worry and excitement Of the business
either never go into it or speedily leave
it. So vii. it be with women. The An
thongs and Stantons will always be found
in the arena, and will be none tho worse
of it, as far as their nerves 60 the great
body of the seI, even if they vote, will
keep out of, and take just that somewhat
languid, pleasant interest in politics that
their husbands and brothers take, if they
take any at all,--but it will always
play very small part in their thoughts
or lives.


Indeed, in all the talk one hears about
women's participation in politics and the
professions, the state Of the health Of the
sex, is singularly overlooked. The num-
ber of women really equal to any work
not scdentary is in6nitesimally small. AS
for the labor of the bar, or of medicine,
or of the counting room, continuous, ex-
hausting. accompanied with great ankle.
ty, considerable exposure to weather and
variations of temperature, and full of
trials to temper, to self-love, to vanity, to
generosity and faith, as they all are, there
is probably not one Of our readers who
can point to even TWO women, in his
acquaintance who are fit for them, Or who
would, with full knowledge Of what
they were, think of encountering them.
The number Of women, even in easy cir
cumstances, who can keep house without
feeling what is called its "cares" over
whelming is alarmingly small. These
cares consist simply in the management
of servants-three or four all told-and
the ordering Of breakfast and dinner, and
the superintendence of certain amount
Of sweeping and securing, and they have
to be borne, let it be remembered, with
in the privacy of home, with times and
seasons perfectly within the womans con-
troll, and her bed within easy reach. How
few, nevertheless, find them so light as to
have easy minds, or strength left for the
proper training of their children or the
duties of a moderate amount OF hospi-
tality.


If it be said that though this may be
true Of married women, it is not true of
unmarried ones. and that they would
probably bear the wear and tear of bus-
ness and the professions better, the answer
is that girls are the material out of which
matrons are made, and that there is no
reason in the world, either moral or ply
steal, for supposing that they would con-
front the cares Of the bar, or the hospi.
tai, or the brokers' office, a whit more
successfully than those of the household
The notion that they would swarm into
politics, be found going crazy in great
numbers on caucuses and mass meetings,
and practically dividing the time" with
strong-lunged males on the stump, we
look on, therefore, as a veritable hallu.
cination.


A considerable number Of female doc.
tors will always be found, doubtless, ,prac
tfcing in the large cities but the country
male doctors, we fancy, will long have a
monopoly Of their weary rides and in6ni'
tesimal fees; and as to women's making
much Of figure at the Bar, those who
know what prodigious vigor of digestion
and what soundness of constitution are
necessary, even on the part Of males, fol
success in tho practice of the law, viii


feel amused by the mention Of the thing
They will not go crazy over the law any
more than over politics. No classes OIL
bodies Of persons voluntarily pursue any
calling to which they find their power
unequal. They avoid it.


With the suffrage. however, will conn
certain responsibilities which cannot an(
ought not to be avoided. Serving on ju
ries is one of them, and We sec that iury
! of women has been already summoned il
, Wyoming Territory. Now, anybody witt
knows what sitting all day in crowded


Court room, and giving even toerabl'