章节正文
Principle riding aloft, not the mud through which her chariot
wheels are dragged. The ways must be swept before we can walk in
them--but how and by whom shall this be done?"
For my part, _I_ can't say, and I wish somebody would tell me.
Well--after seeing our State, which we used to be proud of,
delivered over for two years to the control of a party whose
policy was so repugnant to all our feelings of loyalty, we
endeavored to procure, at least a qualification of intelligence for
voters. Of course, we didn't get it: the exclusion from suffrage
of all who were unable to read and write might have turned the
scales again, and given us the State. After our boys came back
from the war, we might have succeeded--but their votes were over-
balanced by those of the servant-girls, every one of whom turned
out, making a whole holiday of the election.
I thought, last fall, that my Maria, who is German, would have
voted with us. I stayed at home and did the work myself, on
purpose that she might hear the oration of Carl Schurz; but old
Hammer, who keeps the lager-beer saloon in the upper end of
Burroak, gave a supper and a dance to all the German girls and
their beaux, after the meeting, and so managed to secure nine out
of ten of their votes for Seymour. Maria proposed going away a
week before election, up into Decatur County, where, she said, some
relations, just arrived from Bavaria, had settled. I was obliged
to let her go, or lose her altogether, but I was comforted by the
thought that if her vote were lost for Grant, at least it could not
be given to Seymour. After the election was over, and Decatur
County, which we had always managed to carry hitherto, went against
us, the whole matter was explained. About five hundred girls, we
were informed, had been COLONIZED in private families, as extra
help, for a fortnight, and of course Maria was one of them. (I
have looked at the addresses of her letters, ever since, and not
one has she sent to Decatur). A committee has been appointed,
and a report made on the election frauds in our State, and we shall
see, I suppose, whether any help comes of it.
Now, you mustn't think, from all this, that I am an apostate from
the principle of Women's Rights. No, indeed! All the trouble we
have had, as I think will be evident to the millions who read my
words, comes from THE MEN. They have not only made politics
their monopoly, but they have fashioned it into a tremendous,
elaborate system, in which there is precious little of either
principle or honesty. We can and we MUST "run the machine" (to
use another of their vulgar expressions) with them, until we get a
chance to knock off the useless wheels and thingumbobs, and scour
the whole concern, inside and out. Perhaps the men themselves
would like to do this, if they only knew how: men have so little
talent for cleaning-up. But when it comes to making a litter,
they're at home, let me tell you!
Meanwhile, in our State, things are about as bad as they can be.
The women are drawn for juries, the same as ever, but (except in
Whittletown, where they have a separate room,) no respectable woman
goes, and the fines come heavy on some of us. The demoralization
among our help is so bad, that we are going to try Co-operative
Housekeeping. If that don't succeed, I shall get brother Samuel,
who lives in California, to send me two Chinamen, one for cook and
chamber-boy, and one as nurse for Melissa. I console myself with
thinking that the end of it all must be good, since the principle
is right: but, dear me! I had no idea that I should be called
upon to go through such tribulation.
Now the reason I write--and I suppose I must hurry to the end, or
you will be out of all patience--is to beg, and insist, and implore
my sisters in other States to lose no more time, but at once to
coax, or melt, or threaten the men into accepting their claims. We
are now so isolated in our rights that we are obliged to bear more
than our proper share of the burden. When the States around us
shall be so far advanced, there will be a chance for new
stateswomen to spring up, and fill Mrs. Whiston's place, and we
shall then, I firmly believe, devise a plan to cleanse the great
Augean stable of politics by turning into it the river of female
honesty and intelligence and morality. But they must do this,
somehow or other, without letting the river be tainted by the heaps
of pestilent offal it must sweep away. As Lord Bacon says (in that
play falsely attributed to Shakespeare)--"Ay, there's the rub!"
If you were to ask me, NOW, what effect the right of suffrage,
office, and all the duties of men has had upon the morals of the
women of our State, I should be puzzled what to say. It is
something like this--if you put a chemical purifying agent into a
bucket of muddy water, the water gets clearer, to be sure, but the
chemical substance takes up some of the impurity. Perhaps that's
rather too strong a comparison; but if you say that men are worse
than women, as most people do, then of course we improve them by
closer political intercourse, and lose a little ourselves in the
process. I leave you to decide the relative loss and gain.
To tell you the truth, this is a feature of the question which I
would rather not discuss; and I see, by the reports of the recent
Conventions, that all the champions of our sex feel the same way.
Well, since I must come to an end somewhere, let it be here. To
quote Lord Bacon again, take my "round, unvarnished tale," and
perhaps the world will yet acknowledge that some good has been done
by
Yours truly,
JANE STRONGITHARM.
End
wheels are dragged. The ways must be swept before we can walk in
them--but how and by whom shall this be done?"
For my part, _I_ can't say, and I wish somebody would tell me.
Well--after seeing our State, which we used to be proud of,
delivered over for two years to the control of a party whose
policy was so repugnant to all our feelings of loyalty, we
endeavored to procure, at least a qualification of intelligence for
voters. Of course, we didn't get it: the exclusion from suffrage
of all who were unable to read and write might have turned the
scales again, and given us the State. After our boys came back
from the war, we might have succeeded--but their votes were over-
balanced by those of the servant-girls, every one of whom turned
out, making a whole holiday of the election.
I thought, last fall, that my Maria, who is German, would have
voted with us. I stayed at home and did the work myself, on
purpose that she might hear the oration of Carl Schurz; but old
Hammer, who keeps the lager-beer saloon in the upper end of
Burroak, gave a supper and a dance to all the German girls and
their beaux, after the meeting, and so managed to secure nine out
of ten of their votes for Seymour. Maria proposed going away a
week before election, up into Decatur County, where, she said, some
relations, just arrived from Bavaria, had settled. I was obliged
to let her go, or lose her altogether, but I was comforted by the
thought that if her vote were lost for Grant, at least it could not
be given to Seymour. After the election was over, and Decatur
County, which we had always managed to carry hitherto, went against
us, the whole matter was explained. About five hundred girls, we
were informed, had been COLONIZED in private families, as extra
help, for a fortnight, and of course Maria was one of them. (I
have looked at the addresses of her letters, ever since, and not
one has she sent to Decatur). A committee has been appointed,
and a report made on the election frauds in our State, and we shall
see, I suppose, whether any help comes of it.
Now, you mustn't think, from all this, that I am an apostate from
the principle of Women's Rights. No, indeed! All the trouble we
have had, as I think will be evident to the millions who read my
words, comes from THE MEN. They have not only made politics
their monopoly, but they have fashioned it into a tremendous,
elaborate system, in which there is precious little of either
principle or honesty. We can and we MUST "run the machine" (to
use another of their vulgar expressions) with them, until we get a
chance to knock off the useless wheels and thingumbobs, and scour
the whole concern, inside and out. Perhaps the men themselves
would like to do this, if they only knew how: men have so little
talent for cleaning-up. But when it comes to making a litter,
they're at home, let me tell you!
Meanwhile, in our State, things are about as bad as they can be.
The women are drawn for juries, the same as ever, but (except in
Whittletown, where they have a separate room,) no respectable woman
goes, and the fines come heavy on some of us. The demoralization
among our help is so bad, that we are going to try Co-operative
Housekeeping. If that don't succeed, I shall get brother Samuel,
who lives in California, to send me two Chinamen, one for cook and
chamber-boy, and one as nurse for Melissa. I console myself with
thinking that the end of it all must be good, since the principle
is right: but, dear me! I had no idea that I should be called
upon to go through such tribulation.
Now the reason I write--and I suppose I must hurry to the end, or
you will be out of all patience--is to beg, and insist, and implore
my sisters in other States to lose no more time, but at once to
coax, or melt, or threaten the men into accepting their claims. We
are now so isolated in our rights that we are obliged to bear more
than our proper share of the burden. When the States around us
shall be so far advanced, there will be a chance for new
stateswomen to spring up, and fill Mrs. Whiston's place, and we
shall then, I firmly believe, devise a plan to cleanse the great
Augean stable of politics by turning into it the river of female
honesty and intelligence and morality. But they must do this,
somehow or other, without letting the river be tainted by the heaps
of pestilent offal it must sweep away. As Lord Bacon says (in that
play falsely attributed to Shakespeare)--"Ay, there's the rub!"
If you were to ask me, NOW, what effect the right of suffrage,
office, and all the duties of men has had upon the morals of the
women of our State, I should be puzzled what to say. It is
something like this--if you put a chemical purifying agent into a
bucket of muddy water, the water gets clearer, to be sure, but the
chemical substance takes up some of the impurity. Perhaps that's
rather too strong a comparison; but if you say that men are worse
than women, as most people do, then of course we improve them by
closer political intercourse, and lose a little ourselves in the
process. I leave you to decide the relative loss and gain.
To tell you the truth, this is a feature of the question which I
would rather not discuss; and I see, by the reports of the recent
Conventions, that all the champions of our sex feel the same way.
Well, since I must come to an end somewhere, let it be here. To
quote Lord Bacon again, take my "round, unvarnished tale," and
perhaps the world will yet acknowledge that some good has been done
by
Yours truly,
JANE STRONGITHARM.
End
- procure [prə´kjuə]
v.获得；完(达)成；实现 (初中英语单词) - intelligence [in´telidʒəns] n.智力；消息 (初中英语单词)
- unable [ʌn´eibəl] a.不能的；无能为力的 (初中英语单词)
- holiday [´hɔlidi] n.假日，假期，节日 (初中英语单词)
- election [i´lekʃən] n.选举；选择 (初中英语单词)
- altogether [,ɔ:ltə´geðə] ad.完全；总而言之 (初中英语单词)
- evident [´evidənt] a.明显的，明白的 (初中英语单词)
- system [´sistəm] n.系统，体系，制度 (初中英语单词)
- useless [´ju:sləs] a.无用的，无价值的 (初中英语单词)
- california [,kæli´fɔ:njə] n.加利福尼亚 (初中英语单词)
- threaten [´θretn] v.恐吓；有....的危险 (初中英语单词)
- advanced [əd´vɑ:nst] a.先进的；高级的 (初中英语单词)
- firmly [´fə:mli] ad.坚固地，稳定地 (初中英语单词)
- stable [´steibəl] n.马棚 a.稳固的 (初中英语单词)
- politics [´pɔlitiks] n.政治(学)；政治活动 (初中英语单词)
- chemical [´kemikəl] a.化学的 n.化学制品 (初中英语单词)
- comparison [kəm´pærisən] n.比较；对照；比喻 (初中英语单词)
- relative [´relətiv] a.有关系的 n.亲属 (初中英语单词)
- acknowledge [ək´nɔlidʒ] vt.(公开)承认；感谢 (初中英语单词)
- seeing [si:iŋ] see的现在分词 n.视觉 (高中英语单词)
- loyalty [´lɔiəlti] n.忠诚；忠心；忠实 (高中英语单词)
- saloon [sə´lu:n] n.大厅；餐车 (高中英语单词)
- hitherto [,hiðə´tu:] ad.至今，迄今 (高中英语单词)
- fortnight [´fɔ:tnait] n.两星期 (高中英语单词)
- monopoly [mə´nɔpəli] n.垄断(权)；专利事业 (高中英语单词)
- honesty [´ɔnisti] n.诚实，老实 (高中英语单词)
- respectable [ri´spektəbəl] a.可敬的；有身价的 (高中英语单词)
- devise [di´vaiz] vt.设计，发明 (高中英语单词)
- cleanse [klenz] vt.使清洁；净化 (高中英语单词)
- qualification [,kwɔlifi´keiʃən] n.资格；合格证明 (英语四级单词)
- vulgar [´vʌlgə] a.粗俗的；大众的 (英语四级单词)
- console [kən´səul] vt.安慰；慰问 (英语四级单词)
- morality [mə´ræliti] n.道德；教训；伦理学 (英语四级单词)
- intercourse [´intəkɔ:s] n.交际；往来；交流 (英语四级单词)
- exclusion [ik´sklu:ʒən] n.拒绝；逐出，排除 (英语六级单词)
- oration [ə´reiʃən] n.演说；引语 (英语六级单词)
- impurity [im´pjuəriti] n.不纯；杂质 (英语六级单词)
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章节正文
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