OCR Text |
Show A MASSACHUSETTS SENSATION. II LS BA DS WANTED POK THE NUMttHOLS INW EDO ED. The LaclUs claim their Constitutional Constitution-al a. ud Inalienable right to become be-come Wlvt. And Politely aak a. MaliBthusetti Legislature to Legalize Polygamy, The following is taken from the New York GraDbic It is the correspondence correspon-dence of that paper from Lowell, the great manufacturing centre, where women are uumcrous, intelligent and reflecting. There is that in the proposition propo-sition and petition which cannot be ignored, ig-nored, and as an evidence of the growing grow-ing feeliog to calmly discuss and consider con-sider great questions of social and moral polity, they demand more than ordinary conaidcration. Should tho Massachusetts legislature refuse the petition, as it refused to extend the right of suffrage to tho women of the State, then in tho language of the lamented la-mented Greeley wo invite the ladles to eomo west and grow up with the oountry. Here women enjoy tho right of suffrage, and the pobplo marry and are givon in marriage. To the Editor of thi Daily Graphic: It has been a subject of much interesting inter-esting comment here of late years to decide de-cide what Bhall bo dune with tho sur plus femalo population. When a stranger stran-ger enters one of our manufacturing cities, ci-ties, he is immediately struck with the preponderance of the gentler sex. They overilow our factories, till our stores, overrun our strtiota, and haslau by the score to answer any advertisement for an employee. Ouco, the energies of a Massachusetts girl wero bont on securing secur-ing a husband; now they are given to getting a living. Once, the young men of the Old Bay 8tate turned their attention atten-tion to agriculture and trade at home, but now-a-dayB they sell out their farniB as soon as the old folks are dead, and go west to build railroads and concoct Credit Mobiliers. They do not so much as take a wife with them, but leave the maidens with whom thov went hand in hand to school, to live in single loneliness loneli-ness and earn their own living. Thus, year by year, the roll of unmarriod wo-mon wo-mon increases, and the prospect for husbands grows more gloomy, (iirls that might bacon e radiant through motherhood, grow selilsh and soureu in mind, and wither and disappear like the loaves ot November. The native population of -Massachusetts lags far behind the foreign, and statisticians grow appalled. But the fault is not with the women, but is due to circumstances circum-stances and perhaps to prejudice. I use the word prejudice .because I understand there is a movement on foot among the women of liowoflto potition the legislature or, strictly speaking, to present their grievances on the subjoct of matrimony. j?or Bome days there have been rumors of this matter flying around the community, and I havo been at some pains to trace them out. In doing so I have been struck with the fact that men and women speak freely on topics that were tabooed ton years ago. Even tho most relined women will talk interestedly and unreservedly of marriage, love, social good and evil, and all tho questions which pertain to the relations of the seres. There seoms to be a fermentation beneath the surface which will break out before long in an open movement towards larger liberty for both man and woman. This ie only my surmise; but that it may not appear to be merely a piece of guess-work, 1 send you a copy of the document above mentioned. It is ono of the most remarkable re-markable papers of the period. It comes, too, at a strange time, when Mormonism seoms to be yielding to monogamic pressure from without, and Salt .Lake city is preparing to accept the higher civilization from the east! Yet, in this connection, it must not be forgotten that a work on polygamy was published in Uoston some years ago, and was greeted with words of approval by some of the moat eminent men of the seaboard StateB, including Mr. George "William Curtis, of your city. The 6eed then sown was a Bmall one, but it appears ap-pears to have taken root, and circumstances circum-stances have developed it into fruitage very quickly. The following is a conv nf tbo nnt;t; iropai-nd mr KUDmiEBion to the State egislature-: Lowell, April , 1873. To the Honorable the Senate and House of ltepresentatives of the Commonwealth Com-monwealth of Massachusetts : The undersigned, citizens of the State, respectfully set forth tho grievances un-aer un-aer which they sutler as "women who are not permitted to vote, hold any and all offices, and engage in the occupations opened to men, and aro otherwise ry-Btricted ry-Btricted in the opportunity of earning a living, and herewith beg your permission permis-sion to suggest a remedy for these evils, upon which they pray your honorable body to act. The law which now governs society says, practically, that women should be married, should engage in work at their own homoB, and .should look to their husbands for support. On the other hand, the census Bnows that it is impossible impos-sible to carry out this unwritten but recognized law, for the reason that thero is a large excess of women in the commonwealth, com-monwealth, and many of the men of lawful age aro idle.vicious, incompetent, or otherwise unlit to be the heads of households. Yet your petitioners hold thut the matter is not without remedy. Prejudice and custom has decided in favor fa-vor of restricting tho husband to asingle wifo, yet without justice and authority, as we believe. In the Book which lies at the foundation of all law recognized in this country, there is no injunction against a plurality of wives, while there are many examples thorein recorded in its favor. Men's wives appear to have increased in number in proportion with their flocks and riches, tiucb a rulo even now holds in tho land from which the Christian nations received their religion. re-ligion. Your petitioners have no desire to interfere in-terfere with tho regulations of any existing ex-isting household, but Bimply to present their claims to tho marriage state for your respectful consideration. They deem it their privilege and their duty to suggest the marriage of a man to more than one wife, in cases w hero the first wife does not object, and where it is made evident that tho man is able to support sup-port the burden laid upon his resourced. 1'hey are aware that it may take years to remove prejudices, and that those who tako a second or third place in tho household may bo looked upon with disfavor; but coniidont that their proposed pro-posed action will ultimately do away with much of tho social evil which afflicts af-flicts and distroisoi all communities, thoy ore willing to bo tho llrst to engage in tho work of this reform. Socioty, which now insists that woman shall be married and look to her husband for support, will, after maturo rciiection, counteract this effort to carry out the laws practically. It is far from the desiRn of your petitioners peti-tioners to ask legislation in behalf of Free love or uny loosening of the marriage mar-riage bond. We ask that the marriage of the second wifo shall be made as permanent per-manent and binding as that of the first, and that all the children of the household house-hold shall havo equal honor. And in asking this, wo behove that wo havo taken a long step toward doing away with foundling asylums, preventing ante-natal murders, and lessoning tho vagabond child population of our large cities. For the reasons enumerated your petitioners pe-titioners respectfully usk the passage of a law permitting plural marriages in tho cases aboveonumerated, and under su.h other conditions as to your judgment may seem wise and proper. And youf petitioners will ever pray, &c. This remarkable document, at the time it was put into my hands, boro one hundred and tiity-two names. They appeared to me to be genuine signatures. All of them seemed to belong be-long to women of American parentage, and many of the family names have been well known in .New England for a century. This, too, I will say for them; tbo handwriting was far better, generally, general-ly, than in the petitions presented to the Legislature by ni&n, not a few of the signers being evidently ladies of education educa-tion and culture. The lady to whom I was indebted lor a sight of the document, docu-ment, assured mo that tlic largo majority majori-ty of them wcro educated women, tnoua;b many of thorn oaroed their own living, and she herself ie a leader in HO-cieiy. HO-cieiy. If tbuso revolutionists have tho courage to go forward t&nd Inure is no rensori to bolievo that thcro ia any nitre " fun " in tho mutter , their petition will siunish the duMjuiidtuiU of Ihtj Puri-tans Puri-tans of Musstichuii'ta fiay, even if if, does not enliliien thu in. Alter lakiiig a copy of tho petition, I waa puzzled to know whore to send it, b'Jt, happening to take up a copy of ibo .fJuily Graphic containing an editorial edito-rial on the (jutnlriL'h murder, which sug-gcctad sug-gcctad ioma social roiurajs, it uccarred to me that you might pueioly venture to print it. The question presented by these ladies ia in advance of the times and yet not very far in advance, after all, Somebody has got to meet it at some time, but I am glad a rep'.y does not fail to the lot of your correspondent. |