Social problems; United States -- Social conditions -- 1865-1918
It is the educated and accomplished women of our country who have
refined the men as well as the youth of the land, and given tone to
public sentiment. It is this class of women who have purified our
literature, and moulded it to harmonize with the pure principles of a
Christian philosophy. In the fine arts, and even in the abstruse
sciences, women have excelled as well as men. In the catalogue of
distinguished authors there are to be found, both in this country and in
Europe, nearly as many women as men. From the facts which we have
already adduced, it is evident enough that woman, in the exercise of
intellectual, if not political power, is fully the equal of man; while
in tact and shrewdness she is generally his superior. According to the
old but truthful saying, it is impossible for a man to outwit a shrewd
woman; and instead of asking, What can a woman do? we should ask, What
is there a woman cannot do?
Whenever women are left to take care of themselves in the world, as
thousands are, they should not only have the right, but it is their
duty, to engage in any of the industrial pursuits for which they are
fitted. The principal difference between man and woman is physical
strength; and for this reason the lighter employments should be
assigned to women. In whatever employment men are out of place, women
should take their place; especially in retailing fancy goods, in
book-keeping, in telegraphing, in type-setting, in school-teaching, and
in many other like employments; nor need they be excluded from the
learned professions. In fact, we already have lady clergymen and lady
physicians; and some think the character of the Bar would be much
elevated by the admission of lady lawyers. We cannot doubt that
unmarried ladies, if admitted, would excel in prosecuting suits
commenced by "attachment," but in other cases their success is not
assured, if we may judge from the following incident: A lady lawyer of
presidential aspirations, in conducting a suit before the late Judge
Cartter in the district court at Washington, was opposed by an eminent
lawyer of the other sex, who raised a vexed legal question which had not
been "dreamed of in the philosophy" of the lady lawyer, and which so
perplexed her that she, in the midst of her embarrassment, appealed to
the judge for advice as to the course she had better pursue. The judge,
who hesitated somewhat in his utterances, replied, "I think you had
_bet-bet-better_ employ a lawyer."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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