Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The new Northwest. (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887 | View Entire Issue (June 2, 1881)
PBBB ftBBCH, JTK - PBBMS, PBBB . PBOPLB. VOLUME Xt-NQ. PORTLAND. OREGON, TIIUIWDAYj JUNK 2, 1881, PER YEA It $3 00. THREE WOMEN.- , MRft. GARFIELD. ; ' Mrs. Eliza Garfield is the firs t mother of a Pres ident who has ever seen her son's Inauguration. ; Other mothers, possibly, may have been alive to bear the news, but' this efgbty-year-old dame had more" than a, right to be at the Capital on that day.Hhe bad blazed out," aa weodmen say, the road toj it from the log cabin In Cuyahoga county. Hueh a history of motherly courage and patience and faith Is notjrare, to be sure, In any farm house, but .there was something more than this. What; the "Ohio law Is as resjeets the widow's estate and tlie distribution. of even a small farm property' does not appear. In Pennsylvania, , when a farmer dies without a will, the intestate Jaw openi theway. to-breaking up the .homc.jTJie . little property is sold, and-the children are par celed out among administrators if (he mother has - not money enough to keep them with her. . Many an industrious farmer woman whq could get along if she were left to decide must be turned out of the Pennsylvania farm wbe.n her husband dies and see it parceled out, so thatWr 44 thirds "- are often to her the los of her all.' It was not so In rtbe O ran ire township farm-house.. The father of. Garfield died a young manleaving a small farmV - encumbered with debt, In the wood's, with twenty cleared acres around the house. .-What was re markable in Eliza Garfield at that day was her strong wjll. Hhe put aside the well-meant but mistaken advice of friends, and determined that neither the house should beold nor her children scattered. With four children, one a slip of a boy, and the future President a baby, she worked the poor farm so that It yielded a living. At night she taught her boys. Probably It was well for the young Garfield boys they were not deluged with children's books." Therbookshelf held but '. few, but how those histories and scaniyblography must have sunk in and taken root during the long, quiet Winter evenings I The children of the rich do not have such advantages as the lonely farm-house and the energy and brains of that lit tle widow woman gave her 'sous. . It was fifty years ago, when the widow Garfield started the 'experiment of carrying on the Orange farm and .bringing up ber sou lo."whole8omeJlndependeuce. At the end of the half-century, he carries ber to the White House, the first mother of a President -who ever lived there. It Is something to be proud of, not that the farms of the West and the East rear such women, for that we all know, but that 6ne of Them TiaslrveU to .aeeTnTrewahl "bT ner wood-chopping and planting,' her sawing and her teachlng--of ber courage, in short. . -MRH. CHCRCHIU- - 1 " A, woman died rcceiUly in projrldence 'who 'was both a seen arir-airiinseen force. Hhe-dicdtoo-young, worm out by overwork, because of . the tireless spirit that could never let pass a chance to help others.. Hhe had not an easy or a. sheltered corner of the world, and yet she did more than many women who have ease and affluence and :jtlwe:iKljopportuuily.r81 111 became known to tuany Phlladelphians at the . time of the Centennial as an Indefatigable and ae-4 curate correspondent of the Providence Journal. VomenJournallsts, InlSTOj became.'vlslbleto more than the eye of faith. They came along In troops, the wise .and -otherwise. Heme plumed - themselves on their manni,shness,Dr'oilthegr geousness of their attire. Others hid their pencils in the pockets of their linen dusters and looked on, with shrewd eyes, at the exhibit of women, along with the rest of the products of these United Htates. Mrs. Churchill was early to define her position, In a perfectly characteristic way.' Hhe had her out desk In the hall reserved for general correspond ents, working by the side of busy quill-drivers, most of them men. Occasionally she was to be found In heewspapcrToom-'of the-Woman BatidtngTar she was a valued reporter for the journal printed - there. But she preferred each day to stand In the ranks of the regulars, as (t gave her an opportunity of helping and advising other women young ,women, often who drifted there, and whose man ners and freedom were looked upon by eomeof the foreign correspondents as characteristic. - Hhe had a good Influence In corrcc ting thoughtless ness. Hhe was. standard In that room ; thor oughly dignified and self-respecting, with no affectations of false delicacy, but with perfectly outspoken and Vefy "high" Ideasas to the" function of women In Journalism. Mrs. -Churchill was early left a widow with two boys to support. Hhe -tried franlpfcfor a space, sheep-raising among the rocks of New Hampshire, working In the fields uptll latein tl)e"evenlng; but, unlike some rose colored experiences, she could not make farming pay In New- England. Bbe was a teacher for a few years, until finally her true abilities defined themselves In Journalism.?' With very limited opportunities In younger life, and never an owner of many books, ber reading was omnivorous. Hhe made great use of the.' public library;, she was always a student! Interested In facts and statistics ; not satisfied with general statements, but hunt ing out for herself the laws, the occupations and all that concerned not only women but the mor als of society. She was a whole social science meeting In herself, so varied was her study, so In telligent Jiersuggestlons In these matters. Al though she worked very hard, being entirely de endent on her Journalistic writing for support she did, a vast amount of unpaid-for labor. Hhe was ohe of the active spirits of the Woman's Con gress. Always atv t-and-out claimant -of the suffragefor women, slie began to see of late years that education goes before or. at least with such a claim. Themany thoughtful pa iers that this Congress has called out each year for eight years now how the gool uses of such meetings of Amer ica n - women -1 n-al 1 -1 liese- yea rsM rr Ch u rob 1 11 did a vawt deal of organizing corresiKndenee, be sides her own contributions to the Congress proper, all of which, for a day laborer at the pen, ; were gifts Indeed. Hhe. organized the Woman Club, of Providence a little younger than the Woman's Cub la Philadelphia, but undertaking a precisely similar work to bring together women who were interested in domestie and social as well ai scholarly pursuits. :In addition to this, and while heeseif - one of the hardest of workers, she established, niore .Jha.n a year ago, the 'Working Women's Lectures" in Providence, and the last public act of her life was to"give a lecture in that - course on prenatal influences, which was worth many sermons to that or-any other audience of women, rich or Mit.-' Literally she gave her life away to all Jbese-clalms, and time wasmoney to her. The rich women of providence, who were her friend.-, and who were stimulated "by her influence to carry on. the projects she was ever planning, recognize that she gave to all their charities and aid associations far more than they. Such stories can never be told until tlrey aje ended, by which we all lose some what. ' '.'..: ' . ". MRS. TARLYhK. IlMrs. Carlyle's story la almost entirely given In the "Reminiscences? by Carlyle, Just published by-the Bcrlbners. The one value of her life was its character aa helpmeet to the struggling young author; her judgment as critUvwhlch he largely deended on, and her skill as housc-keepejr.' botli werit'toTins77C0tody-ever- Carlyles were rich or poor, she had so the secret of comfort, about her. Hhe never' "naggedher husbaml-1 TOak-motey-s-other wives of gold mines (it Is said) sometimes do. Her ambition Was that he should do good work, .have all the serene leisure uecessa'ry, and be un fret ted with money cares. . When they met at late dinner time, she had a store of anecdote and humor to "entertain him,, and (JarTyle reproaches hinielf that even in the midst of bodily suffering, unsus pected by lilin, these gay "illuminations" Went on.. There Is rather a demand, now-a-dayst that tie busbands shall bring home at night this fund of gaiety and cheerfulness, and so they should, wlien-the! r-wlves-are-ebai ned : fastto- lwnwhold cares.' But In this cae.CarlyIe was thepriMoner in bis study for many hours of each day, and his wife supplied the fresh air and sunshiny spirits that are brought in front-out of ; doors. Hhe whn hls cook and bis carpenteras well as his critic, ' jliilJaulIlt hef aacu 1 ta nl .w C of a Hcotch. peas ant woman, as she was. Philadelphia Lcdycr. The contents of the North Ajpcriean'lirrtctelor June are quit diversified. The first artlcTe Is by Hon. Hugh McCullochr"Our Future Fiscal Pol Icy," and treats of financial and maritime prob lems. George B. Lorlng writes of '.'The Patrician Element in American Hoclety," Jbu? the reader need apprehend po glorification of artificial rank, for In-the author's estimation the patrician ele-. menThere Is simply that portion of the (people, whatever their lineage, who are engaged in de veloping our mental, moral and material wealth. Porman B. Eaton makes a spirited defense of civil. service reform ; Prof. W. O. Hummer states very clearly the argument for free ships ; Freder ick Douglass writes of "The Color Line ;" Dctr4 Chamay, of The Ruins of Central America;" Dr. Austin Flint discusses the benefits of vaccina tion ; J. M. Mason assert the lawful power of the Government to regulate railway charges; and finally Prof. E. 8, Morse ets orth the evidences of the existence of man upon, this continent In prehutoiie times. . WOMAN'S DELICACY AND PURITY. - MAN' RIGHT TO THE END OF THE PKV, ' r Kruin the WrUra WomanHi Juurpsl. Tliere a re many phases In discussion In which a disputant Is best answered by honesjt Indignation or keen contempt. When an opponent, regard -less of the simplest rules of, fairness, erects a flimsy pretense, and; knowing It to be a self-evident sham, insists In-theface "of common sense that his absurd i6sition Is correct, he not only at tempts to deceive, but willfully falsifies. Heseeks by brazen effrontery to comnilt a highway robr Wry on 1 iitelligenotv and i nee argu men U aval 1 nothing with such disputants) places himself be yond the pale of logle.and, within the confines of absunlity. But the pretense and assumption of such a io8ltlon are . not eiual to Its hypocrisy. Thowe who adopt, this .method of disputation of tnest argue -Uon the apparent-basis of-morality or the public good, seemingly unmindful of the fact that the position they take Is antag onistic to that which tliey seek to establish. ' The Judas of betrayaLfame;was not more hyx critical than many who oppose equal rights for woman- on the ground that it would Injure her delicacy- and purity. Emanating as such axscr tions often do from men who seek the degradation of women, they are Indeed travesties upon honor able opinion. , . When men assert that, by giving woman equal rights with man, she would lose purity and deli cacy, they Involve themselves In a dilemma, both horns of which are absurd either that woman's purity and. delicacy are so easily . destroyed that they are not worth preserving, or that the exer cise of political rights by men is debasing. If the former, an attribute so volatile and evanescent Is Inrworthy of : respect hence they- need -feel -no. anxiety for its loss ; If the. latter, it is time men's political. rights were taken away ; for It must cer tainly be conceded, that a wise policy would dic tate that any form of government which debases its citizens ought to be changed or abolished.' - But both premises are false. . Woman's purity and delicacy are not easily tarnished, nor is our jolltl- IFrom , th 8prtngfleM HepuMUnn.f i Man conchies to woman . the best .seat every where but ftPchurch. Thecbureh seat (fortno . very gookl rfason) Is still a straight bench' with a sloping bacXnoHio arms bnt for the cushion, a disgrace to.an obl-fashlonetl country school-house. . Tlie devtjrrwIl-known church architect,-has forj his own reasons ierpetratel this arrangement, while he lias introduced arm-chairs and, seats in- . clined slightly backward In theatres, opera -houHes, lar-rooms, II very-stable ofllces,, and all -ungodly places. But assuming that the excfuclat Ing iew Is necesisary to a religious frame of mind, why should man be a boor alone at church and boldly appropriate the let seat,, that next t? the aisle ? To be sure, owing to another device of the salne archlta-t aloye mentioned, this arm Itself Is often but a delusion and snare, so far as ft pre- , tends to suport the arm, unless it was Intended for a race of bei ngs with an arm coming out under the fifth rib. But whether the arm be comforta ble or not, we obwrve that frail man tries to get at least some trifling support out of if for his back, his side, or some other portion 'of his weary frame. Woman, on the other hand, must sit bolt upright, leaned ngahint the.Bllpjeryverge of the polished walnut ' or ash, and looking. aa if "he should sink" Hit-fore the- preacher gets to the merciful , "Iiwtly." . But of course there are high and mighty objec tion to woman's sitting next to the aUIe. In the first place, It -Is not -her-sphere. fiod-ereated woman for a phere. An Imjortaut feature of her sphere Is backache, and no true woman would be so false to her high destiny as to to trifle with any-lnstltutlon,-particularly any religious Insti tution, ordained to that eim. Her place Is in 'the home, and what would lnvonie of the home if she were to sit at the flrsrend of the ew, while pater Jamillaa took his seat In the middle? 'Moreover, woman canfiot fight. Man evidently sits at the " end ot the pew so that le -can-more readlly-grasp7 his musket and stand In line In the aisle ready to marehoiis-entry1aIefense.Thl-questi6u goes to the very root of thewholeinatterJe- cat system corrupt or debasing. Tbe poetical "in?ageryof these objectors, to Woman Suffrage I grotesquely insincere. , Men who possess scarcely, an lesthetlo thought will gravely intimate that the delicate bloom on the peach, the microscopic feathers on the benutlfulJ wings of the butterfly, the soft pollen on the pelaT8,-wi ll--4ear-4mn4nngAJXofw h Ich souuds as sensible as the bahhllng hroob aiuti wntniff-! -lft"4t.JlJLhjpyjnd.of the proves as mucn, . Ve plao tto-aueh ethereal estl- who cannot fight of .course should not vote, and she should not expose herself to the enemy by sit ting at the end of the pew. Butjwoman sltsnext to the alnle In other places of resort. Tut, tut this leveling down of sacred dlstTncilons in secu lar places must, not Invade the churches. If mate on American women. Their purity Is not like the transient shimmer of the sunlight, on the wavelets, to be objured by every passing cloul, nor like burnlsled brass, easily tarnished. . On the contrary, a woman's purity Is practical. It Is TaTt of her-womanhood. It Is aiTTTie" tlianiond among gem's or gold among metals. Even asno man .need e dishonest because he Is a good citi zen, so no woman neel lose her purity because she (HTforms the duties of citizenship, which are noble and elevating. . . . '" ; Tlte ery-ahout- M)Iltle lelng lhreMitable Is greatly exaggerated. The most of American citi zens are honest and Intelligent. It Is true that dishonest politicians, like dishonest merchants, resort -to disreputable practices. Honest mllti clans do not. And since no Intelligent man would argue that because somejnerchants cheat, all good ieople should not engage In merchandis ing lest they lose their honesty, so no intelligent person should hold aloof from politics because some dishonest politicians engage In disreputable practices. On the coutrary, this. Is one of the strongest arguments in favor of good men and women engaging 4n politics, because It Is espe- for good citizens to prevent bad ones from obtain ing control of the government. 1" TteVeT''Tnun6hherV' inayLnn"pol I tlcsj 'Mat ahdweTeome vTsIlor IBS s ' 1 ' -i A . . 1. 1 . ...... .. . , . snouiu ue cieanseu. . women are needed as the purifying element, and will enter the arena of politics as they enter hospitals,' to brighten and renovate. The grand success of Woman Suffrage In Wyoming refutes the objection under con sideration in this article, as well as others. Tliere the best and purest women have voted for years,7 and their reputation Is untarnished by the breath of suspicion. If It be debasing for a woman to roe with her. father, husband, brother or son, much more ought "she to be condemned for Jiving with him. Yet she claims our highest. respect In the home circle; and since the duties of citizenship are. also high and holy, so. woman will perform these duties Mrs. Mary A. Llvermore sailed from Boston for TTurope off the 2.')thllItlmoto t absent nhreerrfb no-more-danger teller purity than 4n her rour months. Hhe purposes to attend the confer ences of the British and International Federation, of which SIrsV Josephine E. Butler Is the soul, who Is so bravely working against the continental and English system of state regulated prostitution. These conferences are held. In London on the 22d, ZUl and 24th of t he presen t montli.-- home. With their delicacy as their shield, their purity as their armor, American wonien can go unsullied where their husbands, fathers or sons should go; and the man who believes his wife orjdaughter would be contaminated by entering politics ought himself to remain aloof lest bis own spotless pur- pew,- she wmild still more- freqaenllylnvade'the pulpit, until she is as fa nj filar there as In the choir. . . But there Is also the Important objection, wliat would the world say? How could .it modest woman sit at the arm end of the pew while hir 1 TiusLand or father at InsTde? Bure enough, how could she ? Then, again, they have not asked for It. Not a woman ha raised her voice for iti No petitions have been sent to the Legislature, and tlie majority of women would probably do Just as their husbands say, any way. . Ergo, th men will Xeep tlieewl seati - " 7 Mrs. Amelia de Young, mother of he proprietor of the Han Francisco Chronicle, died last week, peacefully and quietly, at the age of seventy-two years. M. It. de Young was In the East when she was taken ill, but be chartered an extra train and hurrledliome to her bed tide. Tlie Han Jose Mer cury, in noticing the death of the lady, sayat "Whateves may be the opinion of anyone as to the character and motives of the late Chas. de Young and hlssurvlvlng partner, M." II. dd Young, there can be nothing but admiration and respect for the devoted love and tender kindness which, cially a patriotic duty of the highest Importance l14, nnlyeraally conceded, they, have always shown to their mother. After the late storm v time in her life, death mutt have come as a tender From the Pendleton Tribune: " 'Butch,' who. was put in Jail a abort time ago for 'only knock ing a woman down stairs,' again shows his smiling face on our streets. The whipping-post may be old-fashioned and out of-date, but we think there would be less crime ln.the county If we had one ; and we know that It would be a big saving to the tax-payers. Putting these old offenders In Jail Is no punishment. They doVt mind It in the least, for they are given good, wholesome food to eat and a nice clean beI to sleep on, and they come out fat and saucy." ' - ' r The("KIngdomof Heaven case," somewhat notorious In Vaila Walla, has reached final aet-' tlemenu A. B. Cllley WaJ aHdwext-ftM, A. Courtney $120, and Thorns? W. Evans $2700, ag gregating $32i with eouts addltial.-In dellv-. erlng the venHct, Judge Whigard said that any one In this enlightened age claiming to be God Almighty Is a fraud, wvsr, and should be made to refund all moneys extorted from Innocent be-r 4 levers;- imSBUMISSSi BIWWSWIliPIWIMmiiWillMUSiH 1 . ' -4 r"'