THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN.

Lyttelton Times, Volume III, Issue 125, 28 May 1853, Page 5

THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN.

The Lecture on the Dignity of Labour by Mrs. Oakes Smith was attended by a numerous audience, who listened to the eloquent discussion with evident satisfaction, frequently interrupting the speaker with expressions of applause. In commencing her lecture Mrs. Oakes Smith alluded to several letters on the subject of Woman's Rights which she had received, most of which, though written in a respectful tone, displayed no more profound knowledge than could be gathered from the witticisms of Punch. She then proceeded to comment at some length on one of the letters, disposing of ; its objections and arguments with a terse energy of remark that gave little encouragement to any further experiments on the part of the letter writer. In opening the main subject of the evening, Mrs. Oakes Smith explained her views of the importance of granting to women the exercise of suffrage. She maintained that

woman formed an integral part of the Republic —was entitled to all the rights of citizenship— and could never assert her true social position so Jong as she was deprived of the privilege of voting. Every argument that sustained the right of universal suffrage was equally applicable to woman as to man. If she had a right to hold properly, as was now guaranteed by the laws of seveial States, she had a right to represent that property. In her case, taxation without representation was tyranny as much as in the case of man. The charge that woman could not vote without neglecting her domestic duties Avas idle. When she could pass the midnight hour iu the theatre or ball-room, or spend weeks in summer jaunts to fashionable resorts, and tbe family not suffer, she could certainly drop a slip of paper into the,ballot box, without imperilling the interests of the nursery or the drawing-room. Woman was now condemned to a life of servile drudgery ; —if poor, wasting the best years of her life in oppressive, monotonous, unremunerative toil.; if rich, a slave to the will of the husband, the brother, or, perhaps, the son ; with her existence unrecognized by the law, unless she had committed a crime—deprived of the freedom which is the natural birthright of humanity; even the property which she brought to her husband passing on his death to his kindred; and leaving her with a pittance, perhaps so scanty as to cause her in her old age to be put up at public auction, and consigned to the tender mercies of the bidder who would support her for the smallest sum. These evils could be fully remedied only by conferring on woman the complete privilege of citizenship, of which the first, though not the greatest, was the right of the ballot-box. The lecturer then considered the conditions necessary to place the industry of woman on its true footing, and to enable her to secure a station of dignity and honour by the labours of her head aud her hands. She should first be made pecuniarily independent. She should not be a beggar. This was now the condition of women, from the stately matron who held a silken purse in her jewelled fingers to receive the bounty of her lord, to the wretched creature at the corner of the streets, whose hollow and abject voice solicited the charity of the passers-by. Woman should also be admitted to. a variety of occupations from which she was now excluded. She should be permitted to exercise every function she was fitted for. Without deciding as to what is woman's proper sphere it is certain that many occupations for which she was peculiarly adapted, were encroached upon by man. He was found behind the counter, selling pins and tape, instead of tilling the ground. Let woman have her choice as well as man. Does she wish to command a ship ? Well. Is not this as fitting as for a man to preside in a milliner's shop ? A woman commands a ship on the coast of England, and has met with no accident as yet. Does she wish to smite the anvil? Well. Men measure off ribands by the yard. Does she desire to drive the team a-field ? Well. Many of the best farms have been carried on under the direction of women. To insure the dignity of labour, woman should be paid as well as man for equal services. A teacher of a school now receives 1,000 dollars, for instance. The' female assistant, equally well educatedmore apt to teach—accomplishing more efficient labour, receives but 500 dollars or oftener but 200 dollars. Is there any reason or justice in this ? Woman should enjoy equal opportunities of education with man. Now, a father in a country town strained every nerve to send his son to college. He was supplied with all the means of instruction that parental energy could provide. His sister, on the contrary, was obliged to be content with such crumbs-of learning as she could here aud there pick up. She must turn over the leaves of the book which she held in her lap, while making '' auld clothes look amaist as weel as new"—repeat the inflections of a .language while dusting a room—and con over the diagram of geometry m the intervals of washing windows.— New York Herald.