Julia Ward Howe, 1819-1910Richards, Laura Elizabeth Howe
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Julia Ward Howe, 1819-1910
Richards, Laura Elizabeth Howe
Authors, American -- 19th century -- Biography; Feminists -- United States -- Biography; Howe, Julia Ward, 1819-1910
"God forbid that in this country chivalry and legislation should be set
one against the other. I ask you, gentlemen, to put your chivalry into
your legislation. Let the true Christian knighthood find its stronghold
in your ranks. Arm yourselves with the best reasons, with the highest
resolve, and deliver us poor women from the injustice which oppresses
and defrauds us."
* * * * *
"Revere the religion of home. Keep its altar flame bright in your
heart.... The vestals of ancient Rome were at once guardians of the
hearth and custodians of the archives of the Roman State. So, in every
time, the home conserves the sacred flame of life, and the destiny of
the nation rests with those who keep it."
* * * * *
"Go abroad with the majesty and dignity of your home about you.... Let
the modest graces of the fireside adorn you in the great gathering. This
is a new sort of home missionary, one who shall carry the blessed
spirit of home wherever she goes, a spirit of rest, of healing, of
reconciliation and good-will."
* * * * *
"One aspect of this [the military argument] would make the protection
which men are supposed to give to women in time of war the equivalent
for the political rights denied them. But, gentlemen, let me ask what
protection can you give us which shall compare with the protection we
give you when you are born, little helpless creatures, into the world,
without feet to stand upon, or hands to help yourselves? Without this
tender, this unceasing protection, no man of you would live to grow up.
It may easily happen that no man of a whole generation shall ever be
called upon to defend the women of his country in the field. But it
cannot happen that the women of any generation shall fail to give their
unwearied and energetic protection to the infant men born of it. Some of
us know how full of labor and detail this protection is; what anxious
days, what sleepless nights it involves. The mothers are busy at home,
not only building up the bodies of the little men, but building up their
minds too, teaching them to be gentle, pure and honest, cultivating the
elements of the human will, that great moralizing power on which the
State and the Church depend. A man is very happy if he can ever repay to
his mother the protection she gave him in his infancy. So, the plea of
protection has two sides.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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