The new Northwest. (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, September 29, 1871, Image 1

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    A Journal for the l'eoflc
Devoted to the Interest of Humanity.
independent In roll and IWIgion.
lllvo to all IJve Issues, and Thoroughly
Radical In Opposing and Exposing the Wrongs
tA 111
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tores muot make known their names to the
Mtttir, or no attention -will be given to their
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ADVERTISEMENTS Insert,! n Ti.'' ; i.i
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Term a
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HIS3 ASTHOFI'S LTjOTUBES 0B
SEEVAHDA. BY HUB. X. St. MILLER.
The first night of Hiss Anthony's lea
ture my attention was entirely taken up
with watching the speaker, for, be it
known, tins first, last and only time I
ever heard a woman speak in public was
in the "meetin'-house," langsyne, when
Aunt Tribulation Fear-thc-Lord arose
and through her tears, nose and hand
krehief tokl her "experience."
So the first evening I had eyea and ears
only for Miss A.
Tiie following evening I gave her my
ears, but managed to bestow mj eyes
furtively upon her audience.
What I took most interest in observing
was the countenances of the gentlemen,
wlro had lain aside that evening their
Important business matters and come to
Miss Aiitliony's lecture like Iambi to
the daughter. That my attention should
have been bestowed almost exclusively
upon the gentlemen may not seem nat
ural; bHt when I tell you that I had
never yet beheld a set of faces so mobile
and expressive, so beaming, smiling
himI scowling, with all the variable and
intense emotions of wrought-up man
hood, you will not wonder.
The women were as coolly radiant as
though the Suttee had never been per
formed. They were as serene and un
ruffled as a Quaker's night-gown. It was
not their funeral.
But the men !
Here sat one along-side of his wife.
Site had towed him in. He was a very
reluctant-looking man. It seemed as
though if it had not been for the name
of it he would rather have stayed at
Itoine. lie was continually shifting
Ills position, meanwhile casting glances
at lite wife to see the effect of everything
upon her. She looked as happy as a cat
with her first kitten.
I have not yet reached that point where
I take delight in human suffering (now,
if the typos print those two last words
woman smffrage, I might as well give
up). This man's apparent discomfiture
mado me unhappy, and I wanted to
speak in a voice like Mrs. "Wluslow's
syrup and say, "You shall not be hurt
ed," for I could fancy I saw him dodg
ing imaginary blows; he seemed mo
mentarily expecting that Miss Anthony i
was going to box Ids cars.
A phlegmatic old gentleman sal be-
hind me, with his chin resting upon his
breast and his eyes closed. IR play
was to be oblivious when Miss Anthony
made a point. But cats aud old gentle
men are not always asleep when their
eyes are elosed.
Further on sat a great, benevolent
looking fellow, with his head thrown
baek and his mouth open, staring as
never man stared before. This individ
ual interested me, and calling up all my
physiognomical and psychological facul-
ties. I efiwved to reud his thought. He
board the truth sublime, as trutlt ever ;
is; he knew it was the truth and recog
nised it as such, but behind him sat a
set of eynieal old stoics of the old school,
and to-morrow he must go out witli them
ami canvass and discuss Miss Authony's
lecture, and they will ask him what he
thinks of such sophistry as M'att and "
he say that what he heard was to him
logical, forcible and conclusive? aud
that he believed that glorious woman to
lie devoted to the true interests of men
and women, aud laboring to institute a
reform which would make men nobler
and more successful, women happier
ami consequently better, and children
nearer in the image of Him whose am
bassador is fearless and denial Truth?
Will lie have the courage to say this to
tltoee wIhj scoff? Naj, nay. I read it
on his fine, emotional face and weak in
tellect ; but when he meets them in sol
emn conclave on the street corner he
will muster the courage to say if he dies
for it, "She is a fine figure of a woman."
Another style sat bolt upright, never
moving a muscle of his body, contenting
himeelf witli blinking slowly and mild
ly at a neighboring chignon as much as
to sav: "Can these things be and not
overcome us?" etc Considering the
confliet that must have been going on
in his mind I felt that this behavior was
verv decorous and suldued.
But there were a goodly number of
lmnpv men there men who seemed
jolly, whole-souled and willing to ac
cept the truth.
Before me sat two of these sensible
men, and their attention and evident
satisfaction and appreciation won me;
ami when the lecture was ended said
one of them, with a good-natured laugh:
"Let's give her a dollar and tell her to
send that book," referring to a valuable
pamphlet which Miss Anthony was en
deavoring to circulate, and he gave it,
and I made a note of it as I passed out of
Boed's Opera House, giving to an Invis
ible angel who shifted by me the "God
bless you" that was on my lips for Miss
Anthony.
In the afternoon following Miss An
thony's first lecture she addressed, pri
vately, the mothers, widows, wives' and
daughters of this place.
At the close of Miss Anthouy's lec
ture a large proportion of these ladies
placed tlielr names upon a paper, which
will be sent to Washington- These names
will signify that these women desire to
be allowed the right of suffrage. These
women were among the best and most
sensible women of the city. They did
this act because they thought it about
time tltat the spirit of woman should
arise up and assert itself.
Holding in ourselves the nature, phys
ical, mental and moral of every human
being that is to be born into the world,
we feel that there ought to be some car-
nest thought among women ; and even
as there is a proscribed sphere for us in
the moral and physical world, so is there
a sphere which can only be filled by us
in the scientific and metaphysical
world. There are things in life never
dreamed of In man's philosophy.
You say that we may develop our
selves in the science of matter and in
the science of mind without ever being
allowed to vote, legislate or hold office.
In the first place, since we have set out
to have some thought and responsibil
ity, we want to be "allowed" to do any
thing we choose to do. And, after all,
what is your chivalry worth if you are
not going to give us what wc want when
tec ack for iti You grant everywhere
to woman the right to think for herself,
aud you say, standing in your superior
bight, that if she wants anything off"
the shelf of legislation you will baud it
down to her. She has asked, plaintive
ly, for the right of suffrage; you refuse
to hand itdown to her, and if in the right
eous struggle to attain your eminence
she grasps at whatever may help her up
the steep ascent, thus piercing tier hands
and soiling her womanhood, you tire to
blame.
"We fully relied upon your politeness,
your gallantry, your chivalry; and when
we said we wanted to vote with you if it
would bo agreeable, smiling tenderly all
the while, we looked for you to take off
your hat and bow acquiescence ; but no
such thing. You tell us just to keep
still and quiet and go home and wash
the children's faces, and when we want
anything just to toy so.
ow, we have among us, firstly: A
vast army of purple women, who move
along through the gloom of the city
with the wings of their Pvschcs trailing
in the dust; women who have nothing
nottiny.' no one to cling to no one
to be proud of no one to work for no
one to wait for; who joy not In Hope or
a Promise In the Land of the Leal
whose being never thrills to the pathos
of a baby'scry a cry which is a prelude
to the song of Life. They bum their
faces in the gaudy gaslight and never
feel the sunlight of tenderness. "Who
lca" tel1 how Ms holy faith was slain
for they had a faith ouce, and their era
dies were as white as ours? "Who can tell
of the sobs and darkness when they laid
their innocence down in the dust? "Who
can tell of doubts and distrust amidst all
the clamor?
But they have not only accomplished
their own degradation and ruin, but wit
ness the quivering lips and sad brow of
the wife as she watches them, furtively,
across the flimsy line drawn between
them. The ruin of the "Priestess" is
duplicate The leatitiful sin that black
And he?
The "Priestess" goes down into the
darkness the groping darkness of in
famy to legalize Ids lust, and the wife
stands up on the dizzv and freezing
pinnacle of purity, steeling herself
into a sort of lightning rod to conduct
God's thunderbolts aside from him
down to scorch and blacken the ground
upon which the "Priestess" walks.
Stephen Pearl Andrews, with ail his
line perception and vague philosophy,
never had more charity for the "fallen
one" than we may have. w e pity her,
not witli that sentimental aud perilous
pity which has about it so much of
color dc rote as to be nearly a temptn
tion, almost luring women away from
the unlovely drudgery of household
cares, to lie stark and white and bcauti
ful under the "Bridgo of Sighs" not
the pity which weeps, but the pity
which helps and suggests.
"We sympathize with man's error or
crime, but not by partially acknowl
edging it to be a necessary evil. "We
believe that Go 1 loves the sinner even
as he docs the upright ; else how could
there have been more rejoicing over the
returning sheep than over the ninety
and nine that went not astray. And
bringing in these "wandering sheep" is
what we propose to do in the future,
along with other things, and we think
this will be a great deal better occupa
tion than playing angel especially
since "Little Breeches" has suggested
the idea of "loafln' round the throne."
But God sees clearly the things which
baffle our keenest scrutiny, and men
and women have walked through years
of darkness and tedious toil, to see at
last breaking upon them the light of
revelation anil science, showing them a
brighter and shorter way to their goal ;
and without creeds or tucories wo
women come, professing an earnest
sympathy with human suffering, and
guarded and guided by that most
sublime injunction, "Bo temperate in
all tilings," we believe that human na
ture is capable of rising to a very lilgii
standard ; but such a name as Stephen
Pearl Andrews, with lib splendid talents
and abstruse philosophy, and his spe
cious and visionary ideas of reform, is
likely to work ruinous results.
Among other evils that men nave
reveled in since history began Is
war. In ancient times war was es
teemed the greatest pleasure, and love
next. Now this is a game which we
uonot understand." We have never
enjoyed this n,ost delectable pastime,
though I see not that we have shown
ourselves wanting in capacity to enjoy
it.
But war is not a pleasure, or only a
pleasure In the sense that drunkenness
and debauchery are exciting the pas
sions of men and leaving women to
those lonely hours of waiting and sus
pense, which Mrs. Browning has writ
ten of with so much feeling and tender
ness. I want to relate to you or at least
recall toyourminds a little incident in
Ancient History. I think it is the
Egyptians who have a superstition in
regard to cats; and their veneration for
these feline animals is so great that they
would not harm a cat for their lives, or
tinder any circumstances. On a certain
time the party atwar with these super
stitious people marched into the field,
each warrior bearing in his arms and
nestled clocly to his heart a beautiful
cat. The consequence was that instead
of u field of carnage, not one in either of
those vast armies was harmed. The
enemy dared not attack the men fcr
fear of harming the cats.
Now your chivalry for woman surely
equals the Egyptians' veneration for
cats. And what I want to suggest is
this : That you take us witit you to the
nattic-iicid. laKo us close to your
hearts in war, and see if the chivalry"
which prompts you to rush across the
ball-room Hoor to pick up a lady's
handkerchief cannot be of some noble
use. See if woman's presence on the
field of battle cannot hold warlike man
spell-bound, and learn him at last for
bearance with his brother.
Salem, September 17, 1871.
OOBBES PONDENOE.
This department of the New Noiitii
west is to be a general vehicle for ex
change of ideas concerning any and all
matters that may be legitimately dis
cussed in ourcolumns. Finding it practi
cally impossible to answer eacli corres
pondent by private letter, we adopt this
mode of communication to save our
friends the disappointment that would
otherwiseaccruefrom ourinabillty toan
swer their queries. Wc cordially Invite
everybody that has a question to ask, a
suggestion to make, ora scolding to give
to contribute to the Correspondents'
Column.
Mrs. H. P., Hulsey : Your remittance
through the P. O. came to us all right.
Much obliged, as it came in good time.
correspondent, writing from Ohio,
wishes to know how large a place Port
laud is. I To has always heard it repre
sented as being a backwoods country
town of but little importance, and is
surprised that such a journal as the Xkw
Nohthwest should be published here.
Portland is a thriving young city of up
wards of ten thousand inhabitants, the
emporium of the Willamette Valley-
one of the prospective grancries of the
world and, in short, bids fair to become
a city of great imiortanec. Two lines
of railroad are now being constructed
from this point along the Willamette,
one on the cast and the other on the west
side, both being owned and controlled
by Ben Holladay, a very liberal capital
ist, who, while making investments
that shall redound to his own financial
interest, is also vastly benefitting the
country by thepermanent improvements
he is making. But we have not the
space here to enumerate all the advan
tages which Oregon possesses. Suffice
it to say that, possessed of a salubrious
climate, a productive soil, and an enter
prising population, the foundation is
here already laid of the mightiest State
on the Pacific coast California has per
sistently misrepresented Oregon, even
going so far as to repack Oregon produce
and sell it as her own. Tho "Golden
State" evidently fears the coming pros
perity of her northern sister, and is dis
posed to be jealous alwut it. The Secre
tary of the Board of Ileal Estate Agents
in our city will take pleasure in forward
ing you correct and full information in
regard to our young State, nnd you had
better apply to him for a more extended
resume of its advantages.
E. McC. wants to know if the New
Northwest Is succeeding well, and If it
is established on a sound financial basis.
To botli of which questions we emphat
ically reply "yes." Tiie success of this
journal tip to the present date is without
a parallel In the first years' history of
any newspaper ever started In Oregon,
as its constantly increasing subscription
lists amply testify. Of course, in inaug'
uratingsuclt an enterprise considerable
outlay of capital lias to be made, and we
wish our friends, one and nil. to mnii.
. : . .
lorwam wiin ineir nmncs anu suoscrip
tion money, and make the already grat
(ylng progress attained develop into a
grand, complete and glorious triumph.
Mrs. P. T., Springfield : Wc have not
time to answer you by private letter,
and so adopt this method. You might
give a few public readings in Portland
witli good success, provided you have
genius in that direction and It has been
cultivated. A public reader, however,
should never confine him or herself long
to any particular locality. Knowing
nothing of your training forsuch a work,
it is hard for us to advise you. If your
genius needs cultivation, Prof. McGib-
eny, of Portland, would, we think, be a
verv competent instructor. We honor
your desire to do something for yourself,
and hope you will be able to realize your
cherished wish.
THE BIGHTS OF WOMEN.
HORACE GREELEY TO TlIEOEORE TILTOX.
To the editor of the Golden AgcSir:
Your article on this topic is so forcible
and just in the main, that I presume
you will be quite willing to have its
slight inaccuracies corrected in your
columns. I do not assume that my
views of the Woman Question are of
much consequence to others; but, in so
far as they may possess interest, it is
well that they be clearly understood.
Let me, then, indicate your misappreii
sions without further preface.
I. You say I hold "there ought to be,
no divorce at all not for any crime,
even the worst." So far as I can recol
lect, your only authority for this state
ment is a remark, that, hud not the
Master spoken otherwise, 1 would not
havo deemed adultery a sufficient reason
tor dissolving a marriage. As you seem
to have given these words undue
weight, allow me to explain my view
more fully.
That insistent, flagitious adultery in
husband or wife aflords eause for di
vorce, I have not meant to deny. But
there have been cases of transient iufidel
ty to marriage vows, under the infiu
ence of passions inflamed by wine and
other iinnatur.il excitements, which be
ing followed by prompt and profound
contrition, I would not judge as ade
quate reasons for divorce. You and I
both know that wives have often par
doned such lapses in husbands; you and
1 airrec that husbands nave no nguiiui
immunity in sucli matters which ougiit returning a day too soon to the Habitual
not also to be accorded to wives. Audi i weariness of the most industrious ot
tirofoundly honor ami reverence the bus- pens. So while I would be glad (ye,
land avIio can say to his erring wife, and honored) if you would notice some
"Though I know that you have been points I herewith set down, I shall take
false to God and to me, yet because of j It as no discourtesy if you prefer to dis
ci tiie love I have borne for you, of the i continue this debate,
vow which pledged me to love and , I. You believe in the principle of
cherish you till death, and for the sake : Democratic Government inothcrwords
of our dear children which God has giv-
en us, 1 believe you truly penitent, win
lorglveand try' almost to lorget your
try
your crime, and tuns shield our nine
ones from undeserved shame." I regard
the husband who speaks and acts thus as
a better Christian, a truer man, than Is
he who exposes, discards, and outlaws,
the wife of his youth for a flagrant
transgression nowslncerely and bitterly
repented. I suggest therefore that you
henceforth represent me as holding that
adultery may, but does not always, Jus
tify an 'application for divorce.
iL You sav I hold that "if a man
marries and his wife dies, there should
Ik? no second marriage." This, also, Is
too swm'dIiil'. Some of my iest and
most esteemed iriends are re-married
happily, I am sure; wisely and nobly, I
judge. Nay, 1 can imagine a case in
wiiicn tnepoor, iiani-worKiiiK.
father of voting children whom he can
not tnko with him to his daily lalnir,
should feel constrained for their sake to
replace his lost wife by another in
whoe iwrfect acceptance and discharge
of a mother's duties toward those clnl
dretl he could Implicitly trust. Pardon
me, mil l am quite comim-nk m. ib
casual remark on which you based your
broad assertion referred to a re-mar
riage following separation iy uivorw,
lint. iliMitll.
III. Let me state my own conception
of re-marriages as complicating marital
rotation in the other world.
I do not dispute the doctrine of Jesus
that "In heaven there is neither mar- 1 fore none can settle, such a case unless I "hearty hatred for free-love and itsde
rylng nor giving in marriage," if you . iu twelve members iiududu women as lusions." What do you mean by free
have quoted His words exactly. And , well as men. The horror which love? The term is not yet in the die-
yet 1 feci tnat there are coupics so com- you have expressed of women "ellective 1 tionanes and has no tlxed meaning,
pletely and hapily united in this world I before juries," leads me to say that I I When I say fas I do) that I am optosed
that they will be nearer and dearer to urn personally acquainted with several to free-love, 1 mean by it the promiscous
each other in the next than they would amiable and excellent ladies at the i intercourse of the sexes, in contradis
or could have been had they failed to West, who are duly authorized at tor- 1 Unction to the heart's ideal of mono-
meet in tins me, aim l iiiiiiK mesu are
happier in cither world than though one i
or both of them had re-niurricd. I do
not hold that cither
jtlier would have been ;
narrying If widowed on
nly insist that they will I
culpable in re-m
this planet: I on
both rejoice and witli reason in tneir
higher life, that neither in this Hie was 1
married a second time. j
IV. ion are cihiiui, tuiuroiuj
right
ht, Mr. Editor, in asserting that my
uviction of the proper indissolubility
marriage is the mainspring of my
conv
of
ho-tility to Woman Sull'mgc, and to the
social philosophy from which many
vainly seek to separate tho woman
movement. Thoiiirli I have written or
dictated very little of what lias, during
thu last then years, ucen priuieu as (.tu
torial in the Tribune on this subject, it
is nevertheless true that my conception
of the nature and scope of the marriage
relation renders my conversion to Wom
an Suffrage a moral impossibility.
I have but two left of seven children,
and these are both daughters. I would
gladly fit them for lives oi useiuincss
and honor, as beloved and loving wives
of virtuous, upright, noble men, and
mothers, ir St shall please God, or good,
healthy, happy children. If it be de
creed that they are to be, not such
women as those I have most admired
and reverenced, but men with female
physique powerful in ward caucuses
anil nominating conventions, vehement
in senate and on the stump, and etrec
tive before juries in the trial of action
rnAt .win T mv tlmt mv irwr
IUI I I I 111. I'lll. . 1 ' - - - - "'J i
on this globo shall cloe before this Is
fain begun. When ami wnerc uiey
shall thus shine, it will not be pleasant
for me to stay.
Mr. Editor, I lelieve our countrymen
are Indebted to you for having discov
ered (perhaps I should say invented) me
as a possible (though mn-t Improbable)
candidate for the Presidency. Allow
me, then, to thank you for your early
and frank demonstration that I can in
no contingency be counted on or hoped
'for a Woman hutirnge candidate.
'lV"u un' " '"Vl
not even a rcmoic w!nnmv in my
ultimately adapting myself to this end.
My difierenee with your crowd i too
vital, too radical, to permit the most
version. I am growing old; my opin -
sanguine dreamers to nope ior my con-
Ions are tolerable unit; anu tne au-i nave shown great skiii in tracing a enn
vanced female of the Laura Fair type, , uection between workiiigman's suffrage
who kills the paramour of whom she ; and workingmau's wages how the me
claimstobe the rightful aillnity, and clianic, the farmer, or the fisherman
gives the lie in open court to the wire , would find that the ballot in his hand
she has doubly widowed, is my pet aver- , was money in ids pocket. No writer In
,.!..
OlUUt
But why should any man be the can
didate for President ot the Woman Suf -
fracists. Iigically and consistently,
feel that their candidate should be a
woman. She ought, moreover, to be
one thoroughly emancipated from the
"absurdity and folly," tho "narrow
ness," and "baleful conservatism."
which I am to old to outgrow. Could
you not lind one who illustrates in her
own person aud history what you so
felicitiously term "the liberal thought
of an enlichtencd age. iai ner oc
one who has two husbands after a sort,
and lives in the same house with llieni,
both sharing the couch of one, but bear
ing the name of the other, (to Indicate
her impartiality iierhaps), and cause
and candidate will be so well and fitly
mated that there will lie no occasion,
even under the most .liberal, progres
sive, enlightened regime, to sue for
their divorce: Could not one of this
class be persuaded to overbear her
shrinking modesty and nominate her
self? In a spirit of hearty hatred for Free
Love and all its infernal delusions,
I remain, yours,
HoitACK GltKKI.EY.
Tribune Office, August 7, 1731.
MR. TILTOX TO MR. CHKKLKY.
Mr. Horace Greeley My Friend:
This Is the "off-year" in politics, and
tiie dull season in newspapers. The
Tammany frauds constitute the only
vital topic now astir, and this the Times
possesses in fee simple. By and by the
opening battle against Grant's re-nom-iuation
will tliuuderalong the line, and
your interest in this, whether as Presl
dcntal candidate, or in your higher
function as editor of the Tribune, will
engross your whole mind. Just now in
the lull seems the beat opportunity (if
you care to welcome it) to accept a
proposition which grew out of our cor
respondence last week, namely that we
should compare our views of woman
suffrage yours against mine for it.
But if you are summering at your farm,
I can hardly ask you to cease toying
with vour nloiiL'li or ax for the sake of
as Mr. Lincoln phrased it, ."government
of the people by the people, and for the
people." But this principle, as I hold
it, includes both men and women. The
American republic Is composed of both
sexes. Its government exacts the alle
giencc of both sexes. Its laws, to a
great extent, apply equally (though to
too great extent unequally) to both
sexes. Its office-holders are, to no in
considerable degree, of both soxes. Its
taxes fall with unrelenting rigor on
both sexes. Now to make our institu
tions logically consistent, the elective
franchise should lielong equally to Iwith
sexes. Is it not so?
II. You believe with Thomas Jefl'er-
,,et. -,.r mm tho consent of the fov- i
derive their
': 'i ti i.. n,
u-IimiI "..mivni.t" is to be thus irivoii r 1
And yet the government, in definncc of
I its flinrtor. which is tho Declaration nf
i liHlfuemlPiieo. violates one of its fun-
dameiital principles by remorselessly
denying to mc-li:ilf it citizens any
voico in making the laws under which
they are to live and die. Is this right
or wrong ?
III. You cling to trial by jury. Now,
ilifk fWtii- jwttiL ti-itli iHicoi 1 f f luf t II f r 41w
rights, interests, and honor of women. I
- ...
ror instance, taue me ease oi a luom-
I ers plea for the curiae! v of her children
,:us against the claim of a divorced and
drunken husband. I hold that no jury
or instniii-e. tnki tne case oi a mom-
can ndemmtelv appreciate, and there-'
neys at law and practit oners in the'
courts.
And you yourself have not for
Portia? Now if women can
gotten
stand and plead at the bar, tell me why
they cannot sit and listen on the jury ?
I V. You defend the American maxim
of "no .taxation without representa-1
tion." But I can point you out an :
army of women who are not accorded '
leprc&ciiuuiuii. -in JMigiaim, mis in
justice has lately been swept away, and I no sympathy witli your accusation, and
women as well as men, If theyl hold you to'be wrong instead of right,
own taxable property, exercise in that Whatever may be your idea of the moral
country the elective franchise. When
Henry Vincent was last in New York,
he told me that he saw three thousand
women In Manchester go to the polls
just us they might have gone to the
postolllcc, or to the city library or to
church. Why would you put the right
of sullragc in a republic under greater
restrictions than in a monarchy?
V. Speaking of England, I remind
you that Its governmental head is a
representative of that sex to whom you
allow no share in the government at all.
Your friend John Bright is happy to
acknowledge that a woman may be
rightfully and illustriously the chief of
the State. But if that same woman
were an American, you would lie dis
tressed to see her exercising even the
humble sovereignty of her simple citi
zenship. Is not tlte English view, as
Mr. Bright holds it, more a credit to an
enlightened age than the American view
as you teacli It ?
VI. You admit that women should
have a chance to earn their living.
Nothing which the oplmists may sav
or the duty of every man to support
some woman (either wife, mother, sister
or daughter), can niimi you or me to the
solemn fact that, morning and evening.
to and from the half-paid toil, past your
office and mine, there marches an army
or women who fight tlte battle of life
alone women who, by death, have lost
the props of their lives women whose
i unna mnlililni. nil fllnti fnil II t ti'; !idtMi
fields women, young and helpless, en
tering into their womanhood with no
daily support save their own industry
women who. if tliev are to live ill virtue
I and not In shame, must have work to
i do and wages for doing it. Now, in
vour speeches to workltigmeii, I have
ncaru you say mai. one i meir moi
' precious priveleges was the ballot. You.)
I l..x 1 1 1... . 1.. t. 1.1 ..,
the land has Insisted more sedulously
than you that the negro, in order to tlx
' his wages and secure his pay, should
have liis franchise. Now if the ballot
will achieve all this for the wages of a
man, have the kindness to luiorm me
why It will effect nothing for the wages
ora woman?
VII. You arc gen r .us enoi gh to ac
knowledge that women should have an
education. They are as much entitled
to it as men. " A' generation or more
ago, the New England high schools
were opened to girls as well as boys.
' The result to-day is, that the New Eng'
land women, as a mass, are the most in
telligent body of their sex in America.
Now I want this good beginning carried
to a better end by throwing open, not
only our common schools, but our col
leges and universities, to both sexes in
stead of restricting these higher institu
tions, as now, to young men alone. If
Michigan University, Oberlin and other
colleges in tiie W est are tree to women,
tell me why Yale and Harvard and
other colleges of the East should not be
conducted on the same humane ami
catholic plait?
VIII. You have expressed an abhor
rence of tiie idea tnat your daughters
should become public speakers. This, I
confess, surprises me. Have I not seen
you repeatedly presiding over iublie
meetings addressed by women? Have
you not proclaimed, both In the Tribune
and elsewhere, the delight with which
you used to sit under the ministry of
Hev. Antoinette urown liiaeKweu.
Furthermore, would It grieve or delight
you if your daughters should have the
gift of son", and go before the public as
Jenny Lind once did, or as Christine
Nilsson now does? But what is the
difference, in principle, between a wom
an's singing and a woman's speaking?
IX. You say: "My conception of
nature aud scope of the marriage relation
renders my conversion to woman suf
frage a moral impossibility." Your
implication is that woman suffrage
tends to dissolve marriage. If you
mean by this that woman suffrage will
give to women their just rights in the
marriage relation, including the right
to dissolve it for good cause, then I
should be still more eager for woman
sutl'rage than I now am. I quoted to
you last week the declaration of the
American Woman Sutl'rage Association,
"Resolved, that woman suffrage means
the perpetuity of the marriage relation."
That resolution, I think, rellects the
sentiment of the great body of woman
sufl'ragists. But my own view is tltat
woman suffrage will neither destroy
marriage on the one hand, nor perpetu
ate it on the other. For, marriage is an
interest common to women aud men.
How then will woman's vote affect it
more than man's? Men have the fran
chise, but have they used it to vote awav
marriage? When women get the
franchise will they use it to vote away
marriage? No. If the marriage insti
tution is to be ever done awav, the first
motion towards its altfflitiou will come
trom men, not lrom women, it was
Hamlet not Ophelia, who said. " I will
I have no more marriages." Consider one
1 tiling, namely, the loving nature God
I has given to woman. There is nothing
' " won? swMucli wants as a liome
and to dwell in it as the happy wife of a
bic husband, and as the loving mother
i ot beautiful children. This is everv
I J omairs nicai. aow it tne ballot in Her
1,aAs ave any eilect at all on her
, Kal -' wl" 1,e voluntarily use this
I ballot for the destruction of what her
I soul considers tho most sacred thinirnii
earth ? How can you persuade yourself
, mat women wouiu vote to abrogate that
very marriage which men vote to main
tain? Hut even if woman would do
this, would not you anil other men like
i'ol, "e thereby proven
imiiinli in flirt tiiirrtfiirrt
tyrants over
:v "w
relation, and
:y- -n
"""''J ,1(,t the m-cessity be plain that the
fivl! bn regulating this relation should
1,0 relormed .
X. Your letter tieruratcs into
mimic marnaue. it this is your niean-
ing of the word, then I join you in your
rebuke of the doctrine and practice.
But if by free-love you imply as many
so-called free-lovers do, simply a more
liberal and humane treatment oy the
civil law of the whole subject of nnirri
ajrc and divorce in other words, more
liberty to the parties concerned and less
interference by the State then I have
duties of husband and wife (and perhaps
I would not greatly ditrer with you here,
certainly not in all you say of mutual
patience and forgiveness), I respectfully
ask you to set forth how far the State
laws or, in other words, how far a
majority of citizens have any moral
right to determine whether these twains
shall live together or go apart. Will
you enlighten me?
XI. You base your notion of divorce
on the scripture, and yet is far from
scriptural. Your words are, "Had not
the Master spoken otherwise, I would
not have deemed adultery a sufficient
reason dissolving a marriage." But
what is Christ's idea of adultery? He
says, "Whoso Iookcth upon a woman to
lust after her, hath already committed
adultery witli her in ids heart." Now
it you base your uoctrnie ot divorce on
; Christ's definition of adultery, and if you
press tills doctrine to the full extent of
that definition, you would divorce three
quarters or nine-tenths of all the marri
ages in Christendom. Moreover, turn
ing from Christ to Paul, I refer you to
the seventh chapter or Mrst Corinthians,
, and particularly toa memorable passage
i in it wnicnconyueareaniiiiowsoiinave
translated as follows : "If the unbeliev
ing husband or wife seeks for a divorce.
let it not lie hindered; for in such cases
the unbelieving husband or wire is not
bound to remain under the yoke." Do
you not see that, in going to the Scrip
ture to find therein au argument against
divorce, you find instead the most
solemn and sweeping authorization of
divorce .'
XII. You have the following sugges
tive sentence : "That persistent, flagiti
ous adultery in husband or wife aflords
good cause for divorce, I have not meant
to deny." w ell, then, would you auer
our existing, law, which grants divorce
for adultery, into granting it only for
"persistent, flagitious adultery'?" Hso,
how will the law draw the line between
persistent and causual, flagitious and
pardonable ? What would you think or
a proiwsition by moderate and occasional
! thievcstoameniitheiawpunishingtheft
i so as to mane it reacii oniy -persistent,
flagitious theft?"
XIII. You have helped t i make, or
' at least to keep, the divorce law of our
I own State very Hlibeisil nml milmt Tlio
Slate or New York grants divorce only
for adultery- But all the New England
States grant divorce for other causes.
such as drunkenness, cruelty, desertion.
failure to support, and tin. lik AVili
you rebuke those States for this legisla
tion, and call their citizens Free-Lovers
for adopting it? Or fwhat would be
better) will you join me in an endeavor
to import tho Massachusetts legislation
on H1,-14 subject into our New York code?
. xYv You helped to ratify the Four-
'""- anu r nteenth Amendments. In
bJ, tlo,n?;.yo1- builded bettor than vou
2te'f hcn. an youranru-
" ,y? 11 co1-w too late. The
case is as plain as a Japan crystal. The
loiirteentii Amendment sTivs: "AH
V- I- 5tatcs. aHl- subject to the juria-
tiT I'lfi0,' itizensof theV.ilted
? S ' nnJ?rM ,e ?tatc wl-ensiir-they
reside" Mr. Bingham, the author of
tins Amendment, admits that this world
"persons" includes woninn Wl,n(m.,
doubt, therefore, has heretofore existed
as to whether women were citizens, that
doubt was removed by the Fourteenth
Amendment. Now the old Constitution,
Article 4, said (and still says): "Citrzcns
or each State shall be entitled to all the
privileges and immunities or citizens in
the several States.-" "What is the
meaning of this? Even so early as
Washington's day, the Supreme Court
or the United States, through Judsre
Bushrod Washington, decided that
among these "privileges and immuni
ties" was the right to exorcise "the
elective franchise." Chancellor Kent.
Judge Story, and the other great lights
that have illumined the textof the Con
stitution, long ago united in declaring
tne same thing. Tiie Fourteenth
Amendment has since carried these
"privileges and immunities" a ston be
yond the Fourth Article. This Amend
ment, after having declared "all persons
born or naturalized i ti the United States"
tobecitizens (including womenas well us
men), then immediately adds: "No
State shall make or enforce any law
which shall abridge tho privileges or
immunities of citizens of the United
States." In other words, no State shall
"abridge the privileges or immunities''
either or men or women, among which
is the "right to exercise tho elective
franchise." So you see tho links of the "
chain. All persons fiucltmihg women)
are citizens; all citizens have privileges
and immunities, iucludiug suffrage:
therefore women, like other citizens, are
entitled to suffrage. If there is any flaw
in this argument, will you do me the
tavor to point it out :
XV. You say, "Why should any man
be the candidate for President or the
woman suffragists. Logically and con
sistently, I reel that their candidate
should be a woman." To this I replv,
that certainly I would have no objection
to a woman as a candidate, either Ibrthe
Presidency or any other otline. And yet
woman suffrage does not require a
woman to be its candidate, any more
Uian negro suffrage demands a negro for
a like position. You have been a prom
inent advocate of negro suffrage, and yet
I do not remember that you ever nomi
nated a negro for President or tho United
States. Indeed, I once urged you to
nominate Frederick Douglass rbr Vice
President, but you declined. And, it
you will iKirdon mo for the digression,
since you liave done me tho honor to say
that 1 "invented" you as a Presidential
candidate, will you now let me gratiry
my early and uuquenclied instinct as an
abolitionist by similarly "inventing"
Mr. Douglass as the candidate Tor Vice
President on your ticket ?
XVI. This leads me to refer to your
sitting at Cooper Institute a few even
ings ago as chairman or a meeting called
to hear a speech from Mr. It. B. Elliott.
a member of Congress from South Caro
lina a negro. I am glad you honored
himas you did: and all I ask vou to do
ror woman's enfranchisement is exactly
what you have done for the nesrro's. But.
on that very evening, in spite of the fact
mat me American tiovcrnment still
refuses the political rights of twenty
millions ot citizens on account or sex.
j;ou went to the Tribune office and pre-
iiAin iu me leiKjrioi uie proceedings me
astounding line "j'jquni itights to All."
Now, in view of your attitude on the
woman question, will you not correct
the next proof-sheet of your favorite
catch-word into "Equal Bights" for
Hair?"
Finally, your recent communication
addressed to me in my own journal was
reprinted by you in yours, but not a line
of my reply there accompanied' it,
although tho other daily papers of New
lorkdid equal justice to both siues ot
the controversy. I mention this fact for
the sake of pledging that eveny word
which vou may say as a rejoinder to this
present letter, if you print your remarks
in the Tribune, shall be faithfully re
printed in the G'odcn .rifle. In this way,
since I can never hope to equal you in
ability, I shall at least have the honor of
excelling you in fairness.
Ever your frier 'I,
TiiEODOitE Tirvrox,
A Petiiifikd Bird's Nbst and Eggs.
A correspondent of the Scientific Ameri
can writes :
Tiie most remarkable petrifaction I
ever saw was round in the mining
ground of Messrs. Nioholsand Ennis.in
the m xset mining Uistrlat, in (jauior
nia. It consisted of a bird's nest and
eggs thoroughly silicified, the eggs re
taining their natural size and shape.
The nest was somewhat fiattened, and
what had evidently been the straws anu
twigs of which it'had informer times
been composed were like threads or
glass. Some or the eggs weft? broken
before the nest was discovered, tho shells
seemed thickened, bit very little, if
any. What had apparently been the
Inside or the egg was now a little dab ot
glass. This nest was taken from the
fork or a large fossil tree, whore it had
been for ages, undisturbed in its cosy
mioHikt nlace. until wood, nest and eggs
had passed away, and their plneo and
form been assumed by the sllex or which
the fossil was composed.
Mrs. Mary "Wilson owns a farm of 150
acres, near Head's Corners, Ontario
county, N. Y., and, although 72-years
of age, has gathered in all hor grain
without help, bhc was found by an in
terviewer pitching ofTa load of wheat,
and a day or two before had been niow'ing.
She swings a scythe and handles' a
pitchfork with the ease of a man in his
prime.
One of tln mnnv Misses Younir was
recently spoken to by lier father, Brig
ham, in reference to a proposal of mar
riage from a Salt LaKe mercuaui.
young woman, witit considerable epunK,
replied: "1 am wining i" '"""-' " Wr
en husbands, if you will et-n e select
them for myself? but I will uootput up
with a piece of a nuuu
a- niivslciuns aro; mu upo -
oung lady phjsi ciu .AiUiWa,re-
!! iimtiFiiQUi v" r ..vsri;
nut our couiurj ,-."'v."iiiy.
suit, it is sal
conn
'be.