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Woman in the Nineteenth Century,
and
Kindred Papers Relating to the Sphere, Condition and Duties, of Woman.
by Margaret Fuller Ossoli.
Edited by her brother, Arthur B. Fuller.
With an introduction by Horace Greeley.
PREFACE.
* * * * *
It has been thought desirable that such papers of Margaret Fuller
Ossoli as pertained to the condition, sphere and duties of Woman,
should be collected and published together. The present volume
contains, not only her "Woman in the Nineteenth Century,"--which has
been before published, but for some years out of print, and
inaccessible to readers who have sought it,--but also several other
papers, which have appeared at various times in the _Tribune_ and
elsewhere, and yet more which have never till now been published.
My free access to her private manuscripts has given to me many papers,
relating to Woman, never intended for publication, which yet seem
needful to this volume, in order to present a complete and harmonious
view of her thoughts on this important theme. I have preferred to
publish them without alteration, as most just to her views and to the
reader; though, doubtless, she would have varied their expression and
form before giving them to the press.
It seems right here to remark, In order to avoid any misapprehension,
that Margaret Ossoli's thoughts wore not directed so exclusively to
the subject of the present volume as have been the minds of some
others. As to the movement for the emancipation of Woman from the
unjust burdens and disabilities to which she has been subject oven in
our own land, my sister could neither remain indifferent nor silent;
yet she preferred, as in respect to every other reform, to act
independently and to speak independently from her own stand-point, and
never to merge her individuality in any existing organization. This
she did, not as condemning such organizations, nor yet as judging them
wholly unwise or uncalled for, but because she believed she could
herself accomplish more for their true and high objects, unfettered by
such organizations, than if a member of them. The opinions avowed
throughout this volume, and wherever expressed, will, then, be found,
whether consonant with the reader's or no, in all cases honestly and
heartily her own,--the result of her own thought and faith. She never
speaks, never did speak, for any clique or sect, but as her individual
judgment, her reason and conscience, her observation and experience,
taught her to speak.
I could have wished that some one other than a brother should have
spoken a few fitting words of Margaret Fuller, as a woman, to form a
brief but proper accompaniment to this volume, which may reach some
who have never read her "Memoirs," recently published, or have never
known her in personal life. This seemed the more desirable, because
the strictest verity in speaking of her must seem, to such as knew her
not, to be eulogy. But, after several disappointments as to the
editorship of the volume, the duty, at last, has seemed to devolve
upon me; and I have no reason to shrink from it but a sense of
inadequacy.
It is often supposed that literary women, and those who are active and
earnest in promoting great intellectual, philanthropic, or religious
movements, must of necessity neglect the domestic concerns of life. It
may be that this is sometimes so, nor can such neglect be too severely
reprehended; yet this is by no means a necessary result. Some of the
most devoted mothers the world has ever known, and whose homes were
the abode of every domestic virtue, themselves the embodiment of all
these, have been women whose minds were highly cultured, who loved and
devoted both thought and time to literature, and were active in
philanthropic and diffusive efforts for the welfare of the race.
The letter to M., which is published on page 345, is inserted chiefly
as showing the integrity and wisdom with which Margaret advised her
friends; the frankness with which she pointed out to every young woman
who asked counsel any deficiencies of character, and the duties of
life; and that among these latter she gave due place to the humblest
which serve to make home attractive and happy. It is but simple
justice for me to bear, in conjunction with many others, my tribute to
her domestic virtues and fidelity to all home duties. That her mind
found chief delight in the lowest forms of these duties may not be
true, and it would be sad if it were; but it is strictly true that
none, however humble, were either slighted or shunned.
In common with a younger sister and brother, I shared her care in my
early instruction, and found over one of the truest counsellors in a
sister who scorned not the youngest mind nor the simplest intellectual
wants in her love for communion, through converse or the silent page,
with the minds of the greatest and most gifted.
During a lingering illness, in childhood, well do I remember her as
the angel of the sick-chamber, reading much to me from books useful
and appropriate, and telling many a narrative not only fitted to wile
away the pain of disease and the weariness of long confinement, but to
elevate the mind and heart, and to direct them to all things noble and
holy; over ready to watch while I slept, and to perform every gentle
and kindly office. But her care of the sick--that she did not neglect,
but was eminent in that sphere of womanly duty, even when no tie of
kindred claimed this of her, Mr. Cass's letter abundantly shows; and
also that this gentleness was united to a heroism which most call
manly, but which, I believe, may as justly be called truly womanly.
Mr. Cass's letter is inserted because it arrived too late to find a
place in her "Memoirs," and yet more because it bears much on Margaret
Ossoli's characteristics as a woman.
A few also of her private letters and papers, not bearing, save,
indirectly, on the subject of this volume, are yet inserted in it, as
further illustrative of her thought, feeling and action, in life's
various relations. It is believed that nothing which exhibits a true
woman, especially in her relations to others as friend, sister,
daughter, wife, or mother, can fail to interest and be of value to her
sex, indeed to all who are interested in human welfare and
advancement, since these latter so much depend on the fidelity of
Woman. Nor will anything pertaining to the education and care of
children be deemed irrelevant, especially by mothers, upon whom these
duties must always largely devolve.
Of the intellectual gifts and wide culture of Margaret Fuller there is
no need that I should speak, nor is it wise that one standing in my
relation to her should. Those who knew her personally feel that no
words ever flowed from her pen equalling the eloquent utterances of
her lips; yet her works, though not always a clear oppression of her
thoughts, are the evidences to which the world will look as proof of
her mental greatness.
On one point, however, I do wish to bear testimony--not needed with
those who knew her well, but interesting, perhaps, to some readers
into whose bands this volume may fall. It is on a subject which one
who knew her from his childhood up--at _home_, where best the
_heart_ and _soul_ can be known,--in the unrestrained hours
of domestic life,--in various scenes, and not for a few days, nor
under any peculiar circumstances--can speak with confidence, because
he speaks what he "doth know, and testifieth what he hath seen." It
relates to her Christian faith and hope. "With all her intellectual
gifts, with all her high, moral, and noble characteristics," there are
some who will ask, "was her intellectual power sanctified by Christian
faith as its basis? Were her moral qualities, her beneficent life, the
results of a renewed heart?" I feel no hesitation here, nor would
think it worth while to answer such questions at all, were her life to
be read and known by all who read this volume, and were I not
influenced also, in some degree, by the tone which has characterized a
few sectarian reviews of her works, chiefly in foreign periodicals.
Surely, if the Saviour's test, "By their fruits ye shall know them,"
be the true one, Margaret Ossoli was preeminently a Christian. If a
life of constant self-sacrifice,--if devotion to the welfare of
kindred and the race,--if conformity to what she believed God's law,
so that her life seemed ever the truest form of prayer, active
obedience to the Deity,--in fine, if carrying Christianity into all
the departments of action, so far as human infirmity allows,--if these
be the proofs of a Christian, then whoever has read her "Memoirs"
thoughtfully, and without sectarian prejudice or the use of sectarian
standards of judgment, must feel her to have been a Christian. But not
alone in outward life, in mind and heart, too, was she a Christian.
The being brought into frequent and intimate contact with religious
persons has been one of the chief privileges of my vocation, but never
yet have I met with any person whose reverence for holy things was
deeper than hers. Abhorring, as all honest minds must, every species
of cant, she respected true religious thought and feeling, by
whomsoever cherished. God seemed nearer to her than to any person I
have over known. In the influences of His Holy Spirit upon the heart
she fully believed, and in experience realized them. Jesus, the friend
of man, can never have been more truly loved and honored than she
loved and honored him. I am aware that this is strong language, but
strength of language cannot equal the strength of my conviction on a
point where I have had the best opportunities of judgment. Rich as is
the religion of Jesus in its list of holy confessors, yet it can spare
and would exclude none who in heart, mind and life, confessed and
reverenced him as did she. Among my earliest recollections, is her
devoting much time to a thorough examination of the evidences of
Christianity, and ultimately declaring that to her, better than all
arguments or usual processes of proof, was the soul's want of a divine
religion, and the voice within that soul which declared the teachings
of Christ to be true and from God; and one of my most cherished
possessions is that Bible which she so diligently and thoughtfully
read, and which bears, in her own handwriting, so many proofs of
discriminating and prayerful perusal. As in regard to reformatory
movements so here, she joined no organized body of believers,
sympathizing with all of them whose views were noble and Christian;
deploring and bearing faithful testimony against anything she deemed
narrowness or perversion in theology or life.
This volume from her hand is now before the reader. The fact that a
large share of it was never written or revised by its authoress for
publication will be kept in view, as explaining any inaccuracy of
expression or repetition of thought, should such occur in its pages.
Nor will it be deemed surprising, if, in papers written by so
progressive a person, at so various periods of life, and under
widely-varied circumstances, there should not always be found perfect
union as to every expressed opinion.
It is probable that this will soon be followed by another volume,
containing a republication of "Summer on the Lakes," and also the
"Letters from Europe," by the same hand.
In the preparation of this volume much valuable assistance has been
afforded by Mr. Greeley, of the New York _Tribune_, who has been
earnest in his desire and efforts for the diffusion of what Margaret
has written.
A. B. F.
BOSTON, _May 10th_, 1855.
INTRODUCTION.
* * * * *
The problem of Woman's position, or "sphere,"--of her duties,
responsibilities, rights and immunities as Woman,--fitly attracts a
large and still-increasing measure of attention from the thinkers and
agitators of our time, The legislators, so called,--those who
ultimately enact into statutes what the really governing class (to
wit, the thinkers) have originated, matured and gradually commended to
the popular comprehension and acceptance,--are not as yet much
occupied with this problem, only fitfully worried and more or less
consciously puzzled by it. More commonly they merely echo the mob's
shallow retort to the petition of any strong-minded daughter or
sister, who demands that she be allowed a voice in disposing of the
money wrenched from her hard earnings by inexorable taxation, or in
shaping the laws by which she is ruled, judged, and is liable to be
sentenced to prison or to death, "It is a woman's business to obey her
husband, keep his home tidy, and nourish and train his children." But
when she rejoins to this, "Very true; but suppose I choose not to have
a husband, or am not chosen for a wife--what then? I am still subject
to your laws. Why am I not entitled, as a rational human being, to a
voice in shaping them? I have physical needs, and must somehow earn a
living. Why should I not be at liberty to earn it in any honest and
useful calling?"--the mob's flout is hushed, and the legislator Is
struck dumb also. They were already at the end of their scanty
resources of logic, and it would be cruel for woman to ask further:
"Suppose me a wife, and my husband a drunken prodigal--what am I to do
then? May I not earn food for my babes without being exposed to have
it snatched from their mouths to replenish the rumseller's till, and
aggravate my husband's madness? If some sympathizing relative sees fit
to leave me a bequest wherewith to keep my little ones together, why
may I not be legally enabled to secure this to their use and benefit?
In short, why am I not regarded by the law as a _soul_, responsible
for my acts to God and humanity, and not as a mere body, devoted to the
unreasoning service of my husband?" The state gives no answer, and the
champions of her policy evince wisdom in imitating her silence.
The writer of the following pages was one of the earliest as well as
ablest among American women, to demand for her sex equality before the
law with her titular lord and master, Her writings on this subject
have the force which springs from the ripening of profound reflection
into assured conviction. She wrote as one who had observed, and who
deeply felt what she deliberately uttered. Others have since spoken
more fluently, more variously, with a greater affluence of
illustration; but none, it is believed, more earnestly or more
forcibly. It is due to her memory, as well as to the great and living
cause of which she was so eminent and so fearless an advocate, that
what she thought and said with regard to the position of her sex and
its limitations, should be fully and fairly placed before the public.
For several years past her principal essay on "Woman," here given, has
not been purchasable at any price, and has only with great difficulty
been accessible to the general reader. To place it within the reach of
those who need and require it, is the main impulse to the publication
of this volume; but the accompanying essays and papers will be found
equally worthy of thoughtful consideration.
H. GREELEY.
CONTENTS.
* * * * *
PART I.
WOMAN IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
* * * * *