Lecture by One of the Sex.My antiquated hearers, male and female. Squenchin’ my native modesty which is natural to the weaker vessels of whom I am which, I feel impelled to speak to you this evenin’ on the subject of woman—her origin, her mission, her destiny. A subject, bein’ as I am a woman myself, I hev given much attention to.Man, my hearers, claims to be the superior of woman! Is it so? and ef so, in what, and how much?Wuz he the fust creation? He wuz, my hearers, but what does that prove?Man wuz made fust, but the experience gained in makin’ man wuz applied to the makin’ of a betterer and more finerer bein’ of whom I am a sample.Nachur made man but saw in a brief space of time that he couldn’t take keer of himself alone, and so he made a woman to take keer uv him, and that’s why we wuz created; tho’ seein’ all the trouble we hev, I don’t doubt that it would hev been money in our pockets if we hedn’t been made at all.Imagine, my beloved hearers, Adam afore Eve wuz created! Who sewed on his shirt buttons? Who cooked his beefsteak?Who made his coffee in the mornin’ and did his washin’?He wuz mizzable, he wuz,—he must have boarded out and eat hash!But when Eve come, the scene changed. Her gentle hand soothed his achin’ brow when he come in from a hard day’s work. She hed his house in order; she hed his slippers and dressin’ gown ready, and after tea he smoked his meerschaum in peace.Men, cruel, hard-hearted men, assert that Eve wuz the cause of his expulsion from Eden—that she plucked the apple and give him half; oh, my sisters, it’s true, it’s too true, but what uv it?It proves fustly, her goodness. HadAdamplucked the apple, if it had been a good one, he’d never a thought of his wife at home, but would have gobbled it down himself, and perhaps have taken her the core.Eve, angel that we all are, thought of him and went halvers with him.Secondly, it wuz the means of good anyhow. It introduced death into the world, which separated ’em while they still hed love for each other.I appeal to the sterner sex present to-night. S’posin’ all of you had been fortunate enough to win such virgin souls as me, could you endure charms like mine for an eternity. If I had a husband, I know he’d bless Eve for introducin’ death into the world.Woman is man’s equal, but is she occupyin’ her true speer? Alas, not! We are deprived of the ballot, we ain’t allowed to make stump speeches, or take part in politics. Is it right? How many men vote who know what they are votin’ for?I demand the ballot. I want to take part in torchlight processions!I want to demonstrate my fitness for governing by coming home elevated on election nights. I demand the right of going to Congress. I want to assume that speer which nachur fitted me for equally with man, but from which masculine jealousy has thus far excluded me.There hev been women in the world who have done something. There was the Queen of Sheba, who was excelled only by Solomon, and all that surpassed her in him wuz that he could support 3,000 women.Bless Solomon’s heart! I’d like to see him do it now. Where could he find a house big enough to hold ’em with their dozen Saratoga trunks apiece?How shall we gain our lost rights and assume that position in the world to which we are entitled to?Oh, my sisters, these is a question upon which I have cogitated long and vigorously.We might do it by pisonin’ all the men, but we would be robbed of one-half of our triumph, for they wouldn’t be alive to see how well we did things without ’em.We might resolve to do no more of the degradin’ work they have imposed onto us. But if we didn’t, who would?One week’s eatin’ what they would cook, would sicken any well-regulated woman, and besides, they might not let us eat at all.Matrimony, thus far in the world’s history, has been our only destiny.I am glad I had always strength of mind enough to resist all propositions leadin’ to my enslavement.I had too much respect for myself to make myself the slave of a man.Wunst, indeed, I might have done so, but the merest accident in the world saved me. A young man in my youngerdays, when the bloom wuz on the peach, ere sleepless nights spent in meditatin’ on the wrongs of my sex had worn furrows into these wunst blushing cheeks, a young man come to our house, and conversed sweetly with me.It wuz my fust beau, and oh, my sisters, had he that night asked me to be his’n, I should have been weak enough to have said Yes, and I would have been a washer of dishes and a mender of stockin’s for life.But fate saved me! He did’nt ask me.—Revised by F. Lizzie Peirce.
Lecture by One of the Sex.My antiquated hearers, male and female. Squenchin’ my native modesty which is natural to the weaker vessels of whom I am which, I feel impelled to speak to you this evenin’ on the subject of woman—her origin, her mission, her destiny. A subject, bein’ as I am a woman myself, I hev given much attention to.Man, my hearers, claims to be the superior of woman! Is it so? and ef so, in what, and how much?Wuz he the fust creation? He wuz, my hearers, but what does that prove?Man wuz made fust, but the experience gained in makin’ man wuz applied to the makin’ of a betterer and more finerer bein’ of whom I am a sample.Nachur made man but saw in a brief space of time that he couldn’t take keer of himself alone, and so he made a woman to take keer uv him, and that’s why we wuz created; tho’ seein’ all the trouble we hev, I don’t doubt that it would hev been money in our pockets if we hedn’t been made at all.Imagine, my beloved hearers, Adam afore Eve wuz created! Who sewed on his shirt buttons? Who cooked his beefsteak?Who made his coffee in the mornin’ and did his washin’?He wuz mizzable, he wuz,—he must have boarded out and eat hash!But when Eve come, the scene changed. Her gentle hand soothed his achin’ brow when he come in from a hard day’s work. She hed his house in order; she hed his slippers and dressin’ gown ready, and after tea he smoked his meerschaum in peace.Men, cruel, hard-hearted men, assert that Eve wuz the cause of his expulsion from Eden—that she plucked the apple and give him half; oh, my sisters, it’s true, it’s too true, but what uv it?It proves fustly, her goodness. HadAdamplucked the apple, if it had been a good one, he’d never a thought of his wife at home, but would have gobbled it down himself, and perhaps have taken her the core.Eve, angel that we all are, thought of him and went halvers with him.Secondly, it wuz the means of good anyhow. It introduced death into the world, which separated ’em while they still hed love for each other.I appeal to the sterner sex present to-night. S’posin’ all of you had been fortunate enough to win such virgin souls as me, could you endure charms like mine for an eternity. If I had a husband, I know he’d bless Eve for introducin’ death into the world.Woman is man’s equal, but is she occupyin’ her true speer? Alas, not! We are deprived of the ballot, we ain’t allowed to make stump speeches, or take part in politics. Is it right? How many men vote who know what they are votin’ for?I demand the ballot. I want to take part in torchlight processions!I want to demonstrate my fitness for governing by coming home elevated on election nights. I demand the right of going to Congress. I want to assume that speer which nachur fitted me for equally with man, but from which masculine jealousy has thus far excluded me.There hev been women in the world who have done something. There was the Queen of Sheba, who was excelled only by Solomon, and all that surpassed her in him wuz that he could support 3,000 women.Bless Solomon’s heart! I’d like to see him do it now. Where could he find a house big enough to hold ’em with their dozen Saratoga trunks apiece?How shall we gain our lost rights and assume that position in the world to which we are entitled to?Oh, my sisters, these is a question upon which I have cogitated long and vigorously.We might do it by pisonin’ all the men, but we would be robbed of one-half of our triumph, for they wouldn’t be alive to see how well we did things without ’em.We might resolve to do no more of the degradin’ work they have imposed onto us. But if we didn’t, who would?One week’s eatin’ what they would cook, would sicken any well-regulated woman, and besides, they might not let us eat at all.Matrimony, thus far in the world’s history, has been our only destiny.I am glad I had always strength of mind enough to resist all propositions leadin’ to my enslavement.I had too much respect for myself to make myself the slave of a man.Wunst, indeed, I might have done so, but the merest accident in the world saved me. A young man in my youngerdays, when the bloom wuz on the peach, ere sleepless nights spent in meditatin’ on the wrongs of my sex had worn furrows into these wunst blushing cheeks, a young man come to our house, and conversed sweetly with me.It wuz my fust beau, and oh, my sisters, had he that night asked me to be his’n, I should have been weak enough to have said Yes, and I would have been a washer of dishes and a mender of stockin’s for life.But fate saved me! He did’nt ask me.—Revised by F. Lizzie Peirce.
My antiquated hearers, male and female. Squenchin’ my native modesty which is natural to the weaker vessels of whom I am which, I feel impelled to speak to you this evenin’ on the subject of woman—her origin, her mission, her destiny. A subject, bein’ as I am a woman myself, I hev given much attention to.
Man, my hearers, claims to be the superior of woman! Is it so? and ef so, in what, and how much?
Wuz he the fust creation? He wuz, my hearers, but what does that prove?
Man wuz made fust, but the experience gained in makin’ man wuz applied to the makin’ of a betterer and more finerer bein’ of whom I am a sample.
Nachur made man but saw in a brief space of time that he couldn’t take keer of himself alone, and so he made a woman to take keer uv him, and that’s why we wuz created; tho’ seein’ all the trouble we hev, I don’t doubt that it would hev been money in our pockets if we hedn’t been made at all.
Imagine, my beloved hearers, Adam afore Eve wuz created! Who sewed on his shirt buttons? Who cooked his beefsteak?Who made his coffee in the mornin’ and did his washin’?
He wuz mizzable, he wuz,—he must have boarded out and eat hash!
But when Eve come, the scene changed. Her gentle hand soothed his achin’ brow when he come in from a hard day’s work. She hed his house in order; she hed his slippers and dressin’ gown ready, and after tea he smoked his meerschaum in peace.
Men, cruel, hard-hearted men, assert that Eve wuz the cause of his expulsion from Eden—that she plucked the apple and give him half; oh, my sisters, it’s true, it’s too true, but what uv it?
It proves fustly, her goodness. HadAdamplucked the apple, if it had been a good one, he’d never a thought of his wife at home, but would have gobbled it down himself, and perhaps have taken her the core.
Eve, angel that we all are, thought of him and went halvers with him.
Secondly, it wuz the means of good anyhow. It introduced death into the world, which separated ’em while they still hed love for each other.
I appeal to the sterner sex present to-night. S’posin’ all of you had been fortunate enough to win such virgin souls as me, could you endure charms like mine for an eternity. If I had a husband, I know he’d bless Eve for introducin’ death into the world.
Woman is man’s equal, but is she occupyin’ her true speer? Alas, not! We are deprived of the ballot, we ain’t allowed to make stump speeches, or take part in politics. Is it right? How many men vote who know what they are votin’ for?
I demand the ballot. I want to take part in torchlight processions!I want to demonstrate my fitness for governing by coming home elevated on election nights. I demand the right of going to Congress. I want to assume that speer which nachur fitted me for equally with man, but from which masculine jealousy has thus far excluded me.
There hev been women in the world who have done something. There was the Queen of Sheba, who was excelled only by Solomon, and all that surpassed her in him wuz that he could support 3,000 women.
Bless Solomon’s heart! I’d like to see him do it now. Where could he find a house big enough to hold ’em with their dozen Saratoga trunks apiece?
How shall we gain our lost rights and assume that position in the world to which we are entitled to?
Oh, my sisters, these is a question upon which I have cogitated long and vigorously.
We might do it by pisonin’ all the men, but we would be robbed of one-half of our triumph, for they wouldn’t be alive to see how well we did things without ’em.
We might resolve to do no more of the degradin’ work they have imposed onto us. But if we didn’t, who would?
One week’s eatin’ what they would cook, would sicken any well-regulated woman, and besides, they might not let us eat at all.
Matrimony, thus far in the world’s history, has been our only destiny.
I am glad I had always strength of mind enough to resist all propositions leadin’ to my enslavement.
I had too much respect for myself to make myself the slave of a man.
Wunst, indeed, I might have done so, but the merest accident in the world saved me. A young man in my youngerdays, when the bloom wuz on the peach, ere sleepless nights spent in meditatin’ on the wrongs of my sex had worn furrows into these wunst blushing cheeks, a young man come to our house, and conversed sweetly with me.
It wuz my fust beau, and oh, my sisters, had he that night asked me to be his’n, I should have been weak enough to have said Yes, and I would have been a washer of dishes and a mender of stockin’s for life.
But fate saved me! He did’nt ask me.
—Revised by F. Lizzie Peirce.