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vol. title: Miscellaneous Scraps from January 1st 1878 vol. period: 1875-1878 pages in vol.: 153 |
The "Ballot box"
Is the title of a very handsome monthly, published at Toledo, Ohio, devoted to the accomplishment of woman’s suffrage. The number for September, now before us, is full of meritorious matter, pertinent to the improvement of the condition of women and their release from laws which have no basis save that of the barbarous custom which in the east finds its culmination in the subordination and degradation of the sex in harems whose history is the reproach of Moslem civilization. Among the articles of prominence in this number of the Ballot-Box we find the letter we published, some time ago, over the signature of Mrs. Mary J. Holmes, of Memphis, a lady who, on every proper occasion, has championed the cause of her sex. Mrs. Holmes in that letter, it will be remembered, declared against the infamous, and we believe the unconstitutional law which orders the arrest of all women found alone upon the streets after nine o’clock at night, and we have reason to know was sustained in her strong and sensible maintenance of her views by nine-tenths of our people. In copying that letter from the Appeal, the Ballot-Box compliments Mrs. Holmes as we think she deserves, and adds:
A discussion has taken place between a lady who signs herself “Barbara” and the editor of the Hartford Times, called forth by the infamous New York case, heretofore narrated in the Ballot-Box. “Is every woman,” asks “Barbara,” “who walks out after dark supposed to be a disreputable character? Even if she were, what right has a policeman to lay a finger on her so long as she walks quietly about her business? I never saw the inside of a house of ill-fame; but I claim the inalienable right of every free-born citizen to walk in the open air, with or without escort, unless arrested on due process of crime. How many men who see the inside of such houses walk the streets unmollested? Every female prostitute implies a male prostitute. It takes two to form that partnership; but the laws recognize and punish but one member of the firm—the woman. The other member is always a silent partner. In the outrageous laws to license prostitution—laws against which all the best women of the upper classes in England are rising and bringing their influence to bear on parliament—by these laws, the women only have to register and undergo the infamous medical examinations; whereas, if it were made a little more equal, and the men had to undergo the same treatment, registering and all, a heavier blow would be dealt at the social evil curse than it has ever received before.” But the Hartford Times, unlike the Memphis Appeal, is disposed to take the cowardly side of the question. “Women are not men,” says this paper, “nor can they possibly take the place of men in all things—as sailors, machinists, soldiers, etc. And their social position is more delicate than that of men. To place women on a perfect level with men would, be, to degrade them in the social scale—to open rougher and harder paths to them through life. * * * Women should not make haste to plunge their sex into an ‘equality’ which tends to degrade and pollute rather than to elevate and purify.” This seems curious reasoning. The very effort which women are making to remove the degradation which the law throws about their sex, by editor of extremely limited views and arrogant assumptions, is conceived to be an attack upon woman’s intrinsic interests, as if to occupy a cramped and circumscribed potion, dependent at all time upon the good or ill will—the pseudo-protection of the other sex—were preferable and more to woman’s interest than to occupy a noble self-sustaining position, with the equality of rights of a citizen, respected and self-respecting. This reasoning of this astute editor will not do; he is living in a live age, and his “Rip Van Winkle” proclivities will hold him far behind the stirring, rushing progress which is the watchword of the day. Old abuses have lost their prerogatives, and must die. Old methods, which only held their ascendancy over mankind while the light of science was dim, and the “Thus saith the Lord” of superstition held reason and freedom in abeyance, are losing their power as the intellect of the age is gaining its ascendancy over superstition. Woman is not the toy, is not the subject, aye, the slave to masculine prerogative, which the old times that are passing away held her to be. She is not the tool to man’s unreasoning appetites in any walk of life; not the subject to his passions or slave to his convenience, but she is, and must be his friend, his equal, his coadjutor and co-worker in the burdens and privileges and responsibilities of the period—in the solving of all the great problems that affect humanity; a citizen, a sister, different in many constitutional attributes, but alike in judgment, in powers of thought and will, supreme in every attribute which constitutes rights of citizenship; no longer the willing subject to unjust laws, but an equal unit in the republic, willingly obedient to all impartial legislation, rebellious at all attempts to the perpetuation of unjust prerogatives or sex discrimination.
There is a great deal of sound sense in the above extract. Indeed, it is compact with sound sense, and we commend it to the careful consideration of all thoughtful women, as well as men. Equity before the law in all things must come to women, sooner or later. The spirit of independence is growing among them, they are eager to be released from the bondage implied in their subordination, and are engaging in professional business and mechanical pursuits, which show how rapidly the desire for self-dependence is increasing, and how strong the conviction of capacity for that self-dependence is with them. The two million workingwomen of the United States asserts this, and speak volumes for the cause for which the Ballot Box is doing so noble a work. We indorse that work, and are glad to see that our cotemporary recognizes, not only in Mrs. Holmes, but in Mrs. E. A. Meriwether, of this city, and Mrs. E. L. Saxon, of New Orleans, co-workers worthy of more than ordinary praise. Of these ladies it says, what all who know them will indorse: “Mrs. Saxon is a lady of great intellectual attainments, thoroughly imbued with the love of liberty and love of her race, and feeling deeply the wrongs of woman through her condition of subordination, political and otherwise, she devotes a large portion of her time to promoting the welfare of her sex, and lectures in the south upon topics affecting the interests of women with great acceptance. Mrs. E. A. Meriwether, of Memphis, Tennessee, is another fearless advocate of woman’s rights, a public speaker of high character, and a woman who fascinates audiences. The earnestness of these women is but a type, as we believe, of a large and influential class who, particularly since the war, have become deeply aroused at the conditions of slavery of their own sex. These women are awake, and do not intend to let the agitation slumber until woman is emancipated.”
The Temperance Convention at Ocean Grove – A Woman`s Earnest Sermon
Ocean Grove, N. J., July 22.—The Woman's National Christian Temperance Convention held solemn services in the Auditorium to-day. Mrs. Annie Whittemeyer opened the meeting with prayer, in the presence of about seven thousand persons.
Mrs. Mary C. Lathrop of Michigan preached. She said that power and force pervaded the social and moral characters of every person, but it was necessary to evolve them by education. The child of to-day is a baby in power of thought and action; but if cared for and educated its power in full manhood and womanhood will be strong for right. The Lord Jesus Christ came to unfold and develop the power of the Holy Ghost. It reaches through the realms of science and beyond it. Man believes in God and nature until his theories meet a line which he cannot formulate, and then he loses belief in God, and studies on in darkness. Meanwhile the Christian finds all things solved to the mind by faith. While the facts of Materialism are grand, it often comes to places where it is lost in a maze; but the Christians have seen that He waved his hand over the troubled waters of the Galillean sea, and the storm was hushed. The power that accomplishes all things, working through human instrumentality, is the Holy Ghost. When we so often pray for the baptism of the Holy Ghost, do we really know what we ask for? Nine out of ten, yes, 99 out of 100 expect that on them will fall a mysterious influence which will make them happy and restful; and that sitting down under it, they will be at peace. But the power of the Holy Ghost is one of revelations. It begins to shine upon us with a light which reveals all our sins and shams, and crowds our faces in mortification to the dust.
If you shut up a room all summer you do not see the dust within, but when the blinds are opened all the filth is manifest, and you cleanse it. So it is with the soul when you let the light of the Holy Ghost shine within it. There is the great stumbling block. When you see how dusty the room of the soul is, you get discouraged and wander back into darkness; but the dust is still there. Now, it means something when in trouble and white lips you pray, “Oh God, send down upon me the Spirit of the Holy Ghost.” With God there are only two classes, saints and sinners. You cannot hide anything from him. He goes behind the door and sees the glass of wine, He goes into the cellar and sees the woman's glass of beer. He goes into the man's pocket and sees the tobacco box. He knows all of our besetting sins. The Holy Ghost reveals the sins of ambition and self-righteousness, which deprive us of the right of wearing the spotless robes of purity. Are you ready to go down into the valley of self-degradation? Are you willing to wray to God to send down upon you the power of the Holy Ghost?
We have two sets of Christians in the church—one which talks ever of its' sins, as if they were pets to be always carried about with them, and another which realizes the filth of sin and the dust in the soul, and forever prays to God to be thorough with them and to make them clean.
Don't believe in a theological Christ or a historical Christ, for they never saved a soul. Believe, oh believe in the sin cleansing and redeeming Christ. He and He alone can be victorious.
The meeting was closed by a prayer offered by Bishop Simpson of New-Jersey.
Researches on the Historical Origin of the Re-incarnation Speculations of French Spiritualists
Imperial Councillor and Chevalier of
the Order of St. Stanislas.In view of the approaching publication of translations in the English language of the works of Allan Kardec, of which the principal volume, “The Spirits’ Book,” is already out, I feel it my duty to lay before the English public the result of my researches in the direction of the origin of the dogma of Re-incarnation. When “Spiritism,” newly baptized with this name, and embodied in form of a doctrine by Kardec, began to spread in France, nothing astonished me more than the divergence of this doctrine from that of “Spiritualism,” touching the point of Reincarnation. This divergence was the more strange because the sources of the contradictory affirmations claim to be the same, namely, the spirit-world and communications given by spirits. As Spiritism was born in 1856 with the pub<... continues on page 5-47 >
Editor's notes
- ↑ The "Ballot box" by Kitting, Memphis Appeal, Friday, September 14, 1877
- ↑ The Temperance Convention at Ocean Grove – A Woman`s Earnest Sermon by unknown author
- ↑ Researches on the Historical Origin of the Re-incarnation Speculations of French Spiritualists by Aksakoff, A. N., Banner of Light, Boston, Saturday, September 18, 1875. From The Spiritualist