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2 WOMEN AND POLITICS,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Why May Not Women Take An Interest In Po...
to all men without any mental test beyond mere sanity . are However many foolish men who women not may onl be hold , it cannot political be op denied inions that but there who
register those opinions in votes y and are encouraged , to do so , who are far more weak-minded than many women .
oug A ht gain to , be because taken the to streng minds then of women them . are They weak are , occup especial ied pains with
ri comprehensive are smal ghtl not l y matters app accustomed lied , to views trifling any . to link and But grasp in unimportant we the larg know great e ideas when chain , if , such th a of ey child events words cannot 's hand . can Th take be ey is
- filled he drops with a the small firs toy t and , that attemp if we ts place to a grasp large the one great before on him e— ,
hand it is too and larg str e ain for s his every smal nerve l fingers , and , so succeeds he brings in out holding his oth it er .
Compare a weak mind with the child ' s hand . When some open noble for subject its reception of thought but is will placed positivel before y it seem , not onl to y increase will it
twofold . , What course is pursued with those nations whom nature or
amongst circumstances civilized lead peo us _| 3 to le who call inferior are habituall , or with y degraded those ? classes with
negroes ? with ragged school children ? with shoe black brigades ? It is said " give them hiher aims "—lace themin
gp , positions of trust—waken them to a sense of their responsibility . Only by such means can it be fairly tested whether
they possess the intelligence which may be merely undeveloped . Why should we not apply the same treatment to ourselves ,
and because our minds are weak , place a high endeavour before them and perhaps find out that we have powers which neither we nor others dared to hope were our portion ? As surely as
the negTO slave rouses to new action when the fetters fall from his limbsas surely as the untaught children in our own land
behold another , world in their every-day existence when knowledge shines out of their eyesso surely shall we behold a new
glory in our being when we bend , every energy we possess to grappling with those large schemes of thought and enterprise
too which apt at to once rejoice exal alone t and . lay We low should the soul take , nothing but in which from men them are . — -
from men—by so doing . There is space and to spare in the mental world . We should no more interfere with their
privileges by sending our minds through the realms of thought , than by lifting up our eyes to the daily marvel of the setting
sun , we should darken to their gaze its mysterious beauty . But should we not spoil ourselves—should we not make our
own minds rough and masculine by making- them so large and
strong ? That is the same sort of question which Chinese
2 Women And Politics,
2 WOMEN AND POLITICS ,
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Sept. 1, 1863, page 2, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01091863/page/2/
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