(11,timmuniratitin,s.
WOMIN'S RIGHTS.-HI.
Bey. ll. W.— B
Sta :--There is one light more in which
it may be well to place the subject before leav
ing it—the ligkt of common reason and good sense.
It will not be questioned that women are in
general exceedingly unlike men so much so
that it is impossible to doubt of their hav
ing been destined by the Creator to a dif
ferent line of life from that to which men are
appointed. There is a delicacy of frame and
feature, and'fineness of orginic constitution, and
a sensibility of nerve, that natural!) , unfit them
for robuster employments of the field and shop,
the market place, the camp, the hustings; crav
ing for them retirement rather; the seclusion,
and quietude, and comparative ease, of indoor
occupation. All must see this. The wisdom
and goodness of God are in nothing more evi
dent than in the perfection of His relative ad
justments; His adaptation of part to part, organ,
to function, supply to want, and creature to
position in the economy of His universe. , Nor
do I see how the relation of the sexes to each
other, and the peculiar aptitudes by which they
are qualified for their respective walks of indus
trial exertion, can fail to be recognized as signal
examples of the wide.reaching harmony of nature.
That there are amazons, capable of all man
ner of things as well abroad as at home, may be
admitted; but they are exceptional beings, and
belong to the category of monsters. I have
seen something of the sort long since, though
not full-grown. At a country school which I
attended in my youth there were, girls as rude
and boisterous in their out door play as the
wildest of the male urchins. They were called
tomboys. They would climb trees, pitch quoits,
run races, wrestle, play leap-frog, and do num
berless athletic tricks. The estimation they were
held in corresponded both in kind and measure
with their sinewy talents. In the matter of
gender they were deemed neuters, a class entirely
by themselves. I had forgotten all about them
till within a few years past, when certain speci
mens of the class began to draw the attention of
New York auditories to the theme of woman's
rights.' This brought the whole thing back
like a picture, and I saw what tombcis were
made for.
Nor let the lords of creation' plume them-.
selves unduly. There are male monsters too,
and of several varieties ; among them monsters
of effeminacy, the very opposite of the amazon
type. Dame Nature has her freaks. Happily
she has her laws as well, and generally adheres
to them.
At any rate, sir, it is a law of reason, no less
than of legal ethics and of revelation, that when
two persons marry they become one to all com
mon intents of civil order and affairs. A dif
ferent rule would lead to shooking consequences.
Suppose each could still make contracts as be
fore, and litigate his own controversies. It
would follow that the wife, like the husband,
might be personally arrested, held to bail, im
prisoned, at the suit of a stranger. I to magine
this to happen in the latter stages of gestation,
or when she has an infant at the breast. It
Would also follow that she might chaffer and
trade with her husband; get the better of him
if she could (one of the liberties of trade); and
in case of cheating him, or being cheated by
him, might engage him in a struggle of forensic
war, with the usual effect of war upon the
equanimity of the parties. Could they live to
gether after this? They might, but it would
scarce be living.
And then, as to the rightful partition of in
dustrial employments between them, and who
should have the headship or controlling authority,
can there be two rational opinions ?
Sufficient heed is seldom given to the inevitable
difference of physiological circumstances en
tailed by marriage upon its subjects. Women,
besides being more slenderly framed than men,
are liable as of course to special infirmities,
trials, and duties, as mothers, that must needs con
fine them much to the house, and put impassible
barriers, for frequent and protracted periods of
time, between them and all external avocation.
Pregnancy and child-bearing, lactation and the
nursery (to say nothing of occasional sick-rooms,
calling for tenderer assiduities than men in
general know how to render) are often so many
hands of arrest to , detain them, whether they
will or no, in helpless home imprisonment. It
is their providential lot. During such periods
what can they do abroad ? or how attend to
harvest-fields, factories, counting room exigencies,
or the tides of the stock-market? Will you bid
the winds of business stop blowing till the
mammas are ready to hoist sail again ?
Whether, sir, the indoor or the outdoor pro
vince of duty be preferable in itself, is gravely
doubtful. I shall not discuss the point. And
whether the talents and qualities suited to the
larger, or to the smaller of these provinces, eon,
stitnte upon the whole the higher grade of char
acter, is also a problem not to be solved in a
moment. Certainly the Most High has not
given to the sexes any clear ground of envy or
discontent with reference to their respective
position in life, or their endowments for the
parts they have respectively to act. Let us
thank Him for this. In my opinion neither side
has anything to boast of in the way of un
doubted superiority. As a matter of family
order, and for order's sake, one of the parties
must be entrusted with a dominant authority, and
with the outdoor sphere of general management;
and it has been considered, not in favor or dis
favor of either, but for the greatest good of both
and of their offspring, that the husband ought
to be the depository of those trusts. He has
the greater physical strength, and with it the
more equable state of health, and business com
petency. The law. 4 of the land have, therefore,
taken the divine example for their model. Would
reason permit them to do otherwise ?
Why, sir, the very voices of the sexes indicate
their due relative positions. Man's voice is the
voice of strength, energy; command. Woman's
is smaller, gentler, sweeter; suited rather to the
drawing room than to the wide, bustling world ;
suggesting associations of privacy, peace, purity,
refinement, and I will add, submission. There
is language in these peculiarities, and it is nature's
language. Imagine woMan (not of the amazon
class) playing stentor at the head of a regiment
in a drill of tactical manoeuvres I
No doubt the husband has often more to do in
his department than he can.individually dispatch.
So has the wife in hers. The means of relief
are obvious : sons and male servants in one case ;
daughters and female servants in the other.
Would our Martineau ladies like to be made
field-drudges of as in Germany? WoUld they
like to put on the vulgarity both' of features and
manners resulting necessarily from such a course
of life ?
It is possible, sir, that an amazon wife might
choose the outer sphere of action. Hens will
sometimes crow. It is possible that an effeminate
husband might choose the inner sphere. I have
often heard cocks cackle. Were the two char
acters mated, and their union happily sterile,
there would be little harm in humoring these
caprices. She could put on ' bloomers', and he
an apron (not to speak of under garments) and
so address theniselves to their inverted order of
activities.
But two such birds are not likely to pdir ; and
I can think of no other state of things in which
the wife's intrusion into the husband's province
could be anything but mischievous. As a first
consequence there must be neglect and confusion
within doors ; while without, discordant views,
bickering, and contention, would be unavoidable
in most cases. The advantages of a division of
labor would be lost, and no r thing gained.
The English leader of the movement (Fanny
Wright'was but a Copyist) demands for women
a" community of property" with their husbands ;
insisting that " there is• no other way of securing
perfect social liberty one democratic principles."
What she means by " democratic principles" I
know not; and as our government is not a de
mocracy, I do not care to know. Even her
meaning with regard to "social liberty" is doubt
ful. There are two articles of the sort, which
writers have taken pains to discriminate : 'one,
a principle- of regulated freedom, implying the'
existence of laws and subordination; the other,
what is called natural liberty or the liberty of
savages ; a principle of unqualified license. She
can hardly mean the former; for it is something
all wives enjoy fully under our polity. The
latter is sufficiently democratic, one would• think,
to content her; is it this she dotes on ? I sup
pose she writes in a fog, mistaking words for
ideas, declamation for philosopl4, and meaning
nothing distinctly.
Anyhow, she befogs her silly adthirers, as the
confused hubbub of their public chatterings too
plainly shows. Why, Sir, the very same reasons
that require the conjugal pairto be compressed
into a legal unity represented by the husband,
require also, and with equal weight of policy,
that as far as regards the current use and
management of property, their estates be like
wise consolidated in his hands. Look at the cir
cumstances.
Things personal are Mostly 'of a perishable na
ture, and must be continually looked after or they
may be lost. Assuredly the wife cannot so look
after them. It is a fatality of her condition that
she cannot. Her property of that condition pas
ses therefore by marriage (as it ought) to the
husband, who alone of the two can take care of
it. This is not the only reason, but it'is a strong
one. Will you say he should• receive such pro
perty upon trust merely But orership is in
many cases indispensable to safe custody itself.
Suppose a cargo of fruit. Suppose shares in a
•
stock company. There may be sudden need of
decisive action, which a'formal trust would em
barrass. If she will have a trust of that sort, let
her take the chances of it by antenuptial con
tract; the laws will be guilty of no such folly in
her behalf; they know that as a general rule it is
not best. A formal trust between the parties,
beside being cumbrous, is apt to cost more in
heart trouble if not in open strife, than the whole
subject-matter of it is worth. Nay, sir, must we
not consider every institution of a trust of that
description as violating pro Canto the conjugal
unity devised by heaven F So that on many ac
counts it is better, far better, to be content with
an implied, informal; imperfect trust, on which
the laws will entertain no quarrels—a trust to be
enforced, not by bills in chancery, but simply by
the natural instincts of marital and paternal af
fection. This leaves the two-one ordinance unob
structed. This• plants no root of bitterness in
the family garden. And in a Christian country
PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1869.
the instincts it depends on will seldom fail to jus
tify the confidence reposed in them.
Land, not being perishable like goods, does
not like them pass to the husband. He takes
possession of it, farms it out, and receives the
rents, or works it and gathers the crops, during
the joint lives of the parties. He does this be
cause, as before, she in general cannot. And as
rents and crops in hand are personal and perish
able, they fall, by the personality rule, to his lot,
in aid of his other resources for meeting the calls
of business and the household. If that rule is
right, this application of it cannot be wrong.
But we are told pathetically that husbands
sometimes waste their wives' property, which is
doubtless true—a melancholy truth. We may
add to it, that they much oftener waste their own
—a fact no less calamitous to the household.
Marriages, like other human adventures, are at
tended with risks, and there is no insurance.
Care in making them, and a right feeling of the
duties they impose, may be recommended as im
portant safeguards ; but disasters will come. And
what then ? Are we to forswear the institute ?
Hardly. The sexes are made for each other;
add the fearful words, " for better or for worse,"
are not so fearful after all as something else that
could be named. They will therefore continue
to be spoken, and it is best they should be ; there
is infinitely more good than evil in them. Hy
men has his turns of ill nature, but if properly
respected, he will not be found upon the whole a
malignant deity.
Pray, sir (I hope the question is not improper)
did you never hear of wives Wasting the property
of their husbands?
As to the Martineau doctrine of " community,"
it implies twoJegal persons, and ignores the ; de--
cree that proclaims the two one. It gives each
a standing in law for mutual litigation, and pro
vokes them to the use of it. In short, for the
principle of love, which ought to reign in families,
it substitutes unequivocally that of selfishness,
the very spirit of division and strife. Is this de
sirable? I have seen something of the French
" community" system in practice, and should
shudder at the introduction of it in this country.
It gives rise to endless heart-burning and fang=
ling. It makes the parties feel proudly that
they are two, instead of one-two in law, two
in interest, two in chilled, distrustful, alienated
affections. I believe it to be a chief cause of the
proverbial weakness of the nuptial tie in France
compared with its strength in England and
America.
A. very large proportion of the ever-abounding
quarrels of mankind, grow out of differences of
judgment oc t ir, inclination upon money questions.
We are all more less selfish, do what we will to
hide it. And nothing touches this carnal side
of our nature like a money question. It is hard
indeed to be unselfish on a direct issue of yours
and mine, that is, of property. And differing
with one another on such an issue, it is odds; but
we become disturbed in temper, and show it.
Repetition aggraves the evil, and our winds be
come permanently soured, our very friendships
corroded. This doubtless is a pity, and a shame,
but how can •we help it 7 The curse (or blessing
in disguise) of having to earn our money pain
fully, has brought upon us 'the heavier and far
greater curse of loving it too well when we have
•
got it. The decree is, that a man shall " cleave
to his wife;" and again, that " her desire shall be
to her husband ;" nor are we wanting, in corre-
Sponding propensities; but unhappily wedlock it•
self is not proof against the dividing influence
of money questions. 'I am afraid' there is noth
ing anywhere (this side of heaven) so thor
oughly compact that a wedge of gold will not
sever it.
Woe therefore to the household where wedges
of gold exist. H. W. W.
TWO MISTAKES.
The first is, that, in order to be a true fol
lower of Christ, one must leave brightness, and
happiness behind, as when the traveler sees the
sun setting in glory from the mountain's Lop,
and then walks down in the shadows and the
dampness to be with the owls and the bats.
It is a pitiful mistake, groundless and unsorip
tural, but it hinders multitudes from yielding
themselves to Christ, and beginning a joy
ful Christian life. And, without doubt,
,that
same mistake contributes largely' to make perdi
tion populous.
I remember the trials I had, when a boy, with
a certain intelligent pony. .The little animal
was usually in the farthest corner of the pasture
when I wished to saddle hint, and at the first
glimpse of the halter would display his heels.
And even when I would approach him with a
bucket of oats, the halter concealed in the ves
sel, at the first discovery of the treacherous
noose, he would wheel with a snort and a kick,
and, in a minute, would be a quarter of a mile
away. Shyer than that pony of the halter, are
the children in many households, of the prayer
meeting or the minister's study. They are ever
on their guard lest they be entrapped into for
saking the brightness of life, for gloom and reli
giousness. Alas ! that a lie should be so well
believed.
The second mistake is more common than the
first. Many regenerated persons take it For
Gospel. It is, that a Christian life can be bright
and happy ONLY IN SPOTS. The notion is,
that the follower of Christ must experience al
ternations of joy and gloom, life and death—de
light and despair.
Those who go by rail from Bologna to Flor
ence, during a few hours' ride, go through forty
tunnels and more as they perform that moun
tainous journey—so, many persons suppose the
Christian life must be.
It is not denied that the follower of Christ
does sometimes leave the world of light and
comfort. There is no mistake about that; but
it is a mistake to suppose that the highway of
holiness is a badly tunnelled route. It is a hurt
ful mistake to believe that light and darkness
necessarily alternate.
And thousands of well disposed Christians do
live a checkered life—of mixed despondency and
joy—only because they think they must live so.
where is no need of it. There is no excuse for
it, but they think they can do no better, and, of
course, they do no better.
" Rejoice always" should be the Christian's
motto, and the text for his life sermon, " He
that followeth Me shall -not walk in darkness,
but shall have the light of life." All his life
ought to preach that text, no matter who de
sponds and wails and utters oracles of gloom
round about him. If an angel of light flies
down from heaven to tell him that text is not
literally true, let him say, " Get thee behind.
me !"
There is a beautiful little book, recently pub
lished by Henry Hoyt, and written by Rev. E.
P. Hammond, entitled "The Better Life," which
enforces the truth against both these deadly er
rors in a style, at once affectionate and interest
ing. It is an admirable book, neatly printed,
just the thing for a Christmas present for a
thoughful youth—or a thoughtless youth either
good, in fact, for any reader, and especially
adapted to correct prevailing injurious impres
sions concerning the salvation our Lord has
provided for us. It is designed for a somewhat
older class of readers than the little volume by
thesarne author, entitled—" Children and Jesus."
If another book might be mentioned as
the best of its class, for Christians of all aged, it
will be Dr. Bush's " Work for All." It is pub
lished by the Presbyterian Committee, and with
the Bible and the other book above mentioned,
would make no insignificant library for a young
Christian. t C. C. K.
Erie, Pa.
REV. A. M. STEWART'S LETTERS.-LII
JOHN CHINAAIAN.-EXODUS
Since Abrahant went out from Ur of the Chal
dees, the world's history has abounded in Exo
des—individually, in Timilies, tribes and nations.
The Exodus of Israel from Egypt to Canaan,
changed the currents of the world's history. By
it the nations were re arranged and humanity
lifted to a higher level than' that trodden by
Jacob and his sons.
So have been the general tendencies of suc
ceeding Exodes; not only improving the condi
tion anclincreasing the influence of those who
change, but also greatly modifying, changing, or
superceding, the peoples whither they went.
The Turks dispossessed the countries they over
ran. The Goths and Vandals, from the north
of Europe, swarmed into its sunny, luxuriant
south, and changing thereby the languages and
character of all its , nations. The infusion of
Norman French and Saxon into England framed
a language for the world's Christianity and com
merce, and also started influences 'which are
leading and destined to guide all nations. The
present greatness of these United States has
arisen from emigration and infusion.
The compulsory erode of African children to
the land of Columbus, amounting now with their
descendants to four millions, has hitherto been
our knottiest problem; nor yet fully solved; but
light is breaking. Present aspects and condi
tions indicate, with no little distinctness, that
those, so lately more abject than serfs, are ere
long to become the leading race in the regions
where they were bondmen.
Emigration once fairly commenced in any di
rection, is not so soon or easily arrested, and
seldom ceases until the region drawn from be
fairly depleted and the one invaded filled. But
a few years since the policy and the earnest
effort of China were to shut out all foreign in-
trusion, and to keep themselves with and by
themselves. Now a flood-tide has been strangely
opened, and the stream flows lilee long pent up
waters broke loose.
NUMBERS
From seventy to one hundred thousand are
already here on the Pacific coast, and are pene
trating into the interior, like the frogs of Egypt
into cities, towns, country ; across the Sierras to
the mining regions; into laundries, kitchens,
workshops, gardens, farms—with pick and
shovel, digging down mountains and filling up
valleys; entering upon all manner of drudgery,
and simple handicrafts.
They are not yet in sufficient numbers on the
Pacific side, to be pressed singly, in squads,
companies and swarms, across the continent, to
take charge of all the servile toils on the Atlan
tic, side. This, however, is but a matter of time.
Higher wages and nearness to China keep-them
for the present in the land of gold and silver.
These regions will soon overflow. Facilities are
fast multiplying for cheap and speedy transpor
tation. The present dreams of European nations
at the opening of the Suez Canal, will not be
realized—that of turning back the tide of the
world's commerce into that old channel and
keeping it there. A highway for the nations
is fast opening from Asia to San Francisco, and
hence across our Continent.
China, to-day, could send us fifty millions 31
her people—ten millions more than the present
population of the United States. And this with.
out sensibly diminishing her population. Only t o
breathe a little easier for their absence. Japan
could send us ten millions'and not deplete her as
Ireland has been by the four or five millions of
ragamuffins she has sent us. Judging from the
past history of commerce, emigration and mita,
tion of empire, all the probabilities indicat e the
coming of such , multitudes from Asia to
our Continent. Waste lands there are enonA
to be opened, watered, drained and subdued--
room for them to raise wheat, fruits, animals,
vegetables, cotton, rice and sugar—railroads to
build, fabrics to produce, kitchens to fill, and
laundries - to "occupy, even for such a countless
avalanche of drudges. Let them come.
Bridget has ruled our kitchens long enough.
Patrick has,been lord of the pick and shovel to
our detriment or, at _ least, discomfort. Our
young men manifest a growing indisposition to
cultivate the soil, and almost a mania for flock
ing into cities and towns—for professional life ;
for railroading, telegraphing, and steam ship
ping. Every condition of our national being
thus invites this increasing influx of Eastern
serfdom. Every, vessel entering the port of San
Francisco from China, swells in an increasing
ratio this human tide.
No legislation either by China or the United
States, could - now turn back this tide. Dam up
a running stream never so stoutly, yet will the
waters eventually break over and wash you and
your barriers away with their violence. National
differences and antipathies, mobs, politics, econo
mies, or religious aversions, will have no power
to prevent. John comes by the ship load; ap
pearing, as he covers the decks, of vessels enter
ing port, with his demure, stolid look, shaved
head, long pigtail, and light garments loosely
sticking to him, like some strange aquatic whioh
has crept up from the waters of the Pacific.
SCHEDULE OF TOPICS FOR THE WEEK
OF PRAYER.
The Evangelical Alliance in the United States
have revised the Schedule of Topics abroad, and
suiting it to our special circumstances, they re
commend the following subjects for concert in
prayer on the successive days of meeting:
SUNDAY, JAN. 2D.SerMons.—Person and
Work of the Holy Spirit. Gal. v. 22, 23.
MONDAY, JAN. 3D. -- Personal--Thanksgiving
for individual mercies, confession of sin, and
prayer for personal holiness and more entire con
secration to God's service.
TUESDAY, JAN. 4TH.—NationaL—Prayer for
the President of the United States and all in
authority in our own and other lands; for uni
versal peace ; for removal of political corruption
and increase of integrity and righteousness in
government; for religious liberty, and advances
of truth in countries where religious liberty is
enjoyed and where it is sought.
WEDNESDAY, JAN. sTEL—Domestic and So
cial—Prayer for parents and children, and the
blessings of the Christian home; for employers
and the employed; for all schools and colleges.
THURSDAY, JAN. 6TH.—,Christion
Thanksgiving for Christian union, and prayer for
its increase ; special supplication in behalf of the
efforts of the Evangelical Alliance in this coun
try, and for the Divine blessing on the assembly
of Christians from all countries to be held in the
autumn of this year in New York.
FRIDAY, JAN. 7TH.—The Christian Church.
—Prayer for all ministers of the Word, and that
the Lord would send forth more laborers; for all
officers and members of Christian churches; for
the removal of false doctrine, and especially for
the blessing of God upon all members of the
Roman Catholic Church, that He would overrule
the Ecumenical Council .in Rome, for the dis
semination of His Gospel, and the overthrow of
hierarchal domination.
SATURDAY, JAN. BTH. The World.—Prayer
for the spread of God's Word and a pure litera
ture in all lands; for men of commerce and
science ; that our civilization may be Christian
ized, and its material resources consecrated ; for
Christians in heathen and idolatrous countries;
for the Chinese and all immigrants in America;
for missionaries and missionary and religious so
cieties, and for the conversion of the world. to
Christ.
SUNDAY, JAN. 9111.-1 COT. 13.
—The young, Scottish Marquis, of Bute, the
richest haul" that Romanists have perhaps
ever made from the ranks of Protestantism, holds
.certain "livings" in the Established Church of
Scotland, in the disposal of which he has acted
with honorable deference to the wishes of the
parishioners. Two of them having become va
cant recently, his agent informed the local par
ties that he intends to give, effect to the wishes
of the parishioners in filling them up. This is a
concession which Protestitints, in a similar posi
tion, and the crown itself, do not very often make.
A. M. STEWAI3,T