Solitude Of Soul
".... because, as an individual, she must rely on herself. No matter how much women prefer to lean, to be protected & supported, nor how much men desire to have them do so, they must make the voyage of life alone, & for safety in an emergency they must know something of the laws of navigation. Nature having endowed them equally, leaves them to their own skill & judgment in the hour of danger, &, if not equal to the occasion, alike they perish.
They appreciate the importance of fitting every human soul for independent action, think for a moment of the immeasurable solitude of self. We ask for the complete development of every individual, first, for his own benefit & happiness. Nature never repeats herself, & the possibilities of one human soul will never be found in another. No one has ever found two blades of ribbon grass alike, & no one will never find two human beings alike. Seeing, then, what must be the infinite diversity in human, character, we can in a measure appreciate the loss to a nation when any large class of the people is uneducated & unrepresented in the government. The great lesson that nature seems to teach us at all ages is self-dependence, self-protection, self-support.
Nothing strengthens the judgment & quickens the conscience like individual responsibility. Nothing adds such dignity to character as the recognition of one's self-sovereignty; the right to an equal place, every where conceded; a place earned by personal merit, not an artificial attainment, by inheritance, wealth, family, & position. Seeing, then that the responsibilities of life rests equally on man & woman, that their destiny is the same, they need the same preparation for time & eternity. The talk of sheltering woman from the fierce sterns of life is the sheerest mockery, for they beat on her from every point of the compass, just as they do on man, & with more fatal results, for he has been trained to protect himself, to resist, to conquer. Such are the facts in human experience, the responsibilities of individual. Rich & poor, intelligent & ignorant, wise & foolish, virtuous & vicious, man & woman, it is ever the same, each soul must depend wholly on itself.
Whatever the theories may be of woman's dependence on man, in the supreme moments of her life he can not bear her burdens. Alone she goes to the gates of death to give life to every man that is born into the world. No one can share her fears, on one mitigate her pangs; & if her sorrow is greater than she can bear, alone she passes beyond the gates into the vast unknown." -Elizabeth Cady Stanton
They appreciate the importance of fitting every human soul for independent action, think for a moment of the immeasurable solitude of self. We ask for the complete development of every individual, first, for his own benefit & happiness. Nature never repeats herself, & the possibilities of one human soul will never be found in another. No one has ever found two blades of ribbon grass alike, & no one will never find two human beings alike. Seeing, then, what must be the infinite diversity in human, character, we can in a measure appreciate the loss to a nation when any large class of the people is uneducated & unrepresented in the government. The great lesson that nature seems to teach us at all ages is self-dependence, self-protection, self-support.
Nothing strengthens the judgment & quickens the conscience like individual responsibility. Nothing adds such dignity to character as the recognition of one's self-sovereignty; the right to an equal place, every where conceded; a place earned by personal merit, not an artificial attainment, by inheritance, wealth, family, & position. Seeing, then that the responsibilities of life rests equally on man & woman, that their destiny is the same, they need the same preparation for time & eternity. The talk of sheltering woman from the fierce sterns of life is the sheerest mockery, for they beat on her from every point of the compass, just as they do on man, & with more fatal results, for he has been trained to protect himself, to resist, to conquer. Such are the facts in human experience, the responsibilities of individual. Rich & poor, intelligent & ignorant, wise & foolish, virtuous & vicious, man & woman, it is ever the same, each soul must depend wholly on itself.
Whatever the theories may be of woman's dependence on man, in the supreme moments of her life he can not bear her burdens. Alone she goes to the gates of death to give life to every man that is born into the world. No one can share her fears, on one mitigate her pangs; & if her sorrow is greater than she can bear, alone she passes beyond the gates into the vast unknown." -Elizabeth Cady Stanton
