Part 25 (2/2)
”The wad. The animal from which is obtained the valuable fur that tailors make so much use of.”
Says I, ”Do you mean waddin' 8 cents a sheet?”
”8 cents a pelt-yes, the skins are plentiful and cheap, owing to the hardy habits of the animal.”
Says I, ”Cease instantly. I will hear no more.”
Truly, I had heard much of the flattery and the little talk that statesmen will use to wimmen, and I had heard much of their lies, etc.; but truly, I felt that the 1/2 had not been told. And then I thought out loud, and says,-
”I have hearn how laws of right and justice are sot one side in Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C., as bein' too triflin' to attend to, while the legislators pondered over, and pa.s.sed laws regardin', hens' eggs and birds' nests. But this is goin' too fur-too fur. But,” says I firmly, ”I shall do Dorlesky's errents, and do 'em to the best of my ability; and you can't draw off my attention from her sufferin's and her suffragin's by talkin' about wads.”
”I would love to obleege Dorlesky,” says he, ”because she belongs to such a lovely s.e.x. Wimmen are the loveliest, most angelic creatures that ever walked the earth: they are perfect, flawless, like snow and roses.”
Says I firmly, ”That hain't no such thing. They are disagreable creeters a good deal of the time. They hain't no better than men. But they ought to have their rights all the same. Now, Dorlesky is disagreable, and kinder fierce actin', and jest as humbly as they make wimmen; but that hain't no sign she ort to be imposed upon. Josiah says, 'She hadn't ort to have a right, not a single right, because she is so humbly.' But I don't feel so.”
”Who is Josiah?” says he.
Says I, ”My husband.”
”Ah! your husband! yes, wimmen should have husbands instead of rights. They do not need rights, they need freedom from all cares and sufferings. Sweet, lovely beings, let them have husbands to lift them above all earthly cares and trials! Oh! angels of our homes,” says he, liftin' his eyes to the heavens, and kinder shettin' 'em, some as if he was goin' into a trance, ”fly around, ye angels, in your native haunts! mingle not with rings, and vile laws; flee away, flee above them.”
And he kinder moved his hand back and forth, in a floatin' fas.h.i.+on, up in the air, as if it was a woman a flyin' up there, smooth and serene. It would have impressed some folks dretful, but it didn't me. I says reasonably,-
”Dorlesky would have been glad to flew above 'em. But the ring and the vile laws laid holt of her, unbeknown to her, and dragged her down. And there she is, all dragged and bruised and brokenhearted by it. She didn't meddle with the political ring, but the ring meddled with her. How can she fly when the weight of this infamous traffic is a holdin' her down?”
[Ill.u.s.tration: ”FLY AROUND, YE ANGELS.”]
”Ahem!” says he. ”Ahem, as it were-as I was saying, my dear madam, these angelic angels of our homes are too ethereal, too dainty, to mingle with the rude crowds. We political men would fain keep them as they are now: we are willing to stand the rude buffetings of-of-voting, in order to guard these sweet, delicate creatures from any hards.h.i.+ps. Sweet, tender beings, we would fain guard you-ah, yes! ah, yes!”
[Ill.u.s.tration: WOMAN'S RIGHTS.]
Says I, ”Cease instantly, or my sickness will increase; for such talk is like thoroughwort or lobelia to my moral stomach.” Says I, ”You know, and I know, that these angelic, tender bein's, half clothed, fill our streets on icy midnights, huntin' up drunken husbands and fathers and sons. They are driven to death and to moral ruin by the miserable want liquor- drinkin' entails. They are starved, they are frozen, they are beaten, they are made childless and hopeless, by drunken husbands killing their own flesh and blood. They go down into the cold waves, and are drowned by drunken captains; they are cast from railways into death, by drunken engineers; they go up on the scaffold, and die of crimes committed by the direct aid of this agent of h.e.l.l.
[Ill.u.s.tration: SOMEBODY BLUNDERED.]
”Wimmen had ruther be a flyin' round than to do all this, but they can't. If men really believe all they say about wimmen, and I think some of 'em do, in a dreamy way-if wimmen are angels, give 'em the rights of angels. Who ever heard of a angel foldin' up her wings, and goin' to a poorhouse or jail through the fault of somebody else? Who ever heard of a angel bein' dragged off to a police court by a lot of men, for fightin' to defend her children and herself from a drunken husband that had broke her wings, and blacked her eyes, himself, got the angel into the fight, and then she got throwed into the streets and the prison by it? Who ever heard of a angel havin' to take in was.h.i.+n' to support a drunken son or father or husband? Who ever heard of a angel goin' out as wet nurse to get money to pay taxes on her home to a Government that in theory idolizes her, and practically despises her, and uses that same money in ways abomenable to that angel?
”If you want to be consistent-if you are bound to make angels of wimmen, you ort to furnish a free, safe place for 'em to soar in. You ort to keep the angels from bein' meddled with, and bruised, and killed, etc.”
”Ahem,” says he. ”As it were, ahem.”
But I kep' right on, for I begun to feel n.o.ble and by the side of myself.
”This talk about wimmen bein' outside and above all partic.i.p.ation in the laws of her country, is jest as pretty as I ever heard any thing, and jest as simple. Why, you might jest as well throw a lot of snowflakes into the street, and say, 'Some of 'em are female flakes, and mustn't be trampled on.' The great march of life tramples on 'em all alike: they fall from one common sky, and are trodden down into one common ground.
”Men and wimmen are made with divine impulses and desires, and human needs and weaknesses, needin' the same heavenly light, and the same human aids and helps. The law should meet out to them the same rewards and punishments.
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