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diff --git a/11982-h/11982-h.htm b/11982-h/11982-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9172a2a --- /dev/null +++ b/11982-h/11982-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,17081 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" + content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + <title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Eighty Years And More, by +Elizabeth Cady Stanton.</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + } + HR { width: 33%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .note {margin-left: 2em; margin-right: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} /* footnote */ + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + .sidenote {width: 20%; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding-left: 1em; font-size: smaller; float: right; clear: right;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem p {margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem p.i2 {margin-left: 2em;} + .poem p.i4 {margin-left: 4em;} + .poem .caesura {vertical-align: -200%;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Eighty Years And More; Reminiscences +1815-1897, by Elizabeth Cady Stanton + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Eighty Years And More; Reminiscences 1815-1897 + +Author: Elizabeth Cady Stanton + +Release Date: April 10, 2004 [EBook #11982] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EIGHTY YEARS AND MORE *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Grenet and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + + + + + +</pre> + +<h1>EIGHTY YEARS AND MORE</h1> +<h2>REMINISCENCES 1815-1897</h2> +<br> +<h2>ELIZABETH CADY STANTON</h2> +<div style="text-align: center;"><a name="img001"></a><img + style="width: 400px; height: 611px;" alt="Elizabeth Cady Stanton" + title="Elizabeth Cady Stanton" src="image/001.jpg"></div> +<br> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold; text-align: center;">"Social science +affirms that woman's place in society marks the +level of civilization."</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold; text-align: center;">I DEDICATE THIS +VOLUME TO</p> +<p style="font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"><big>SUSAN B. ANTHONY,</big></p> +<p style="font-weight: bold; text-align: center;">MY STEADFAST FRIEND +FOR HALF A CENTURY.</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<br> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> +<span style="font-weight: bold;">CHAPTER</span><br> +<ul style="list-style-type: square;"> + <li>I. <a href="#CHAPTER_I.">CHILDHOOD</a></li> + <li>II. <a href="#CHAPTER_II">SCHOOL DAYS</a></li> + <li>III. <a href="#CHAPTER_III">GIRLHOOD</a></li> + <li>IV. <a href="#CHAPTER_IV">LIFE AT PETERBORO</a></li> + <li>V. <a href="#CHAPTER_V">OUR WEDDING JOURNEY</a></li> + <li>VI. <a href="#CHAPTER_VI">HOMEWARD BOUND</a></li> + <li>VII. <a href="#CHAPTER_VII">MOTHERHOOD</a></li> + <li>VIII. <a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">BOSTON AND CHELSEA</a></li> + <li>IX. <a href="#CHAPTER_IX">THE FIRST WOMAN'S RIGHTS CONVENTION</a></li> + <li>X. <a href="#CHAPTER_X">SUSAN B. ANTHONY</a></li> + <li>XI. <a href="#CHAPTER_XII">SUSAN B. ANTHONY (<i>Continued</i>)</a></li> + <li>XII. <a href="#CHAPTER_XII">MY FIRST SPEECH BEFORE A LEGISLATURE</a></li> + <li>XIII. <a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">REFORMS AND MOBS</a></li> + <li>XIV. <a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">VIEWS ON MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE</a></li> + <li>XV. <a href="#CHAPTER_XV">WOMEN AS PATRIOTS</a></li> + <li>XVI. <a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">PIONEER LIFE IN KANSAS—OUR NEWSPAPER +"THE REVOLUTION"</a></li> + <li>XVII. <a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">LYCEUMS AND LECTURERS</a></li> + <li>XVIII. <a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">WESTWARD HO!</a></li> + <li>XIX. <a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">THE SPIRIT OF '76</a></li> + <li>XX. <a href="#CHAPTER_XX">WRITING "THE HISTORY OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE"</a></li> + <li>XXI. <a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">IN THE SOUTH OF FRANCE</a></li> + <li>XXII. <a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">REFORMS AND REFORMERS IN GREAT +BRITAIN</a></li> + <li>XXIII. <a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">WOMAN AND THEOLOGY</a></li> + <li>XXIV. <a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">ENGLAND AND FRANCE REVISITED</a></li> + <li>XXV. <a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">THE INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF WOMEN</a></li> + <li>XXVI. <a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">MY LAST VISIT TO ENGLAND</a></li> + <li>XXVII. <a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">SIXTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE +CLASS OF 1832—THE WOMAN'S BIBLE</a></li> + <li>XXVIII. <a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">MY EIGHTIETH BIRTHDAY</a></li> + <li><a href="#INDEX_OF_NAMES">INDEX OF NAMES</a></li> +</ul> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<br> +<h2>LIST OF PORTRAITS.</h2> +<br> +<ul style="text-align: center;"> + <li><a href="#img001">The Author, <i>Frontispiece</i></a></li> + <li><a href="#img002">Margaret Livingston Cady</a></li> + <li><a href="#img003">Judge Daniel Cady</a></li> + <li><a href="#img004">Henry Brewster Stanton</a></li> + <li><a href="#img005">The Author and Daughter</a></li> + <li><a href="#img006">The Author and Son</a></li> + <li><a href="#img007">Susan B. Anthony</a></li> + <li><a href="#img008">Elizabeth Smith Miller</a></li> + <li><a href="#img009">Children and Grandchildren</a></li> + <li><a href="#img010">The Author, Mrs. Blatch, and Nora</a></li> + <li><a href="#img011">The Author, Mrs. Lawrence, and Robert +Livingston Stanton</a></li> +</ul> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<br> +<h1>EIGHTY YEARS AND MORE.</h1> +<a name="Page_1"></a> +<hr style="width: 45%;"><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I."></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> +<h2>CHILDHOOD.</h2> +<br> +<p>The psychical growth of a child is not influenced by +days and years, but by the impressions passing events +make on its mind. What may prove a sudden awakening +to one, giving an impulse in a certain direction that +may last for years, may make no impression on another. +People wonder why the children of the same family differ +so widely, though they have had the same domestic +discipline, the same school and church teaching, and +have grown up under the same influences and with the +same environments. As well wonder why lilies and +lilacs in the same latitude are not all alike in color and +equally fragrant. Children differ as widely as these in +the primal elements of their physical and psychical +life.</p> +<p>Who can estimate the power of antenatal influences, +or the child's surroundings in its earliest years, the +effect of some passing word or sight on one, that makes +no impression on another? The unhappiness of one +child under a certain home discipline is not inconsistent +with the content of another under this same discipline. +One, yearning for broader freedom, is in a chronic condition +of rebellion; the other, more easily satisfied, +<a name="Page_2"></a>quietly accepts the situation. Everything is seen +from +a different standpoint; everything takes its color from +the mind of the beholder.</p> +<p>I am moved to recall what I can of my early days, +what I thought and felt, that grown people may have a +better understanding of children and do more for their +happiness and development. I see so much tyranny +exercised over children, even by well-disposed parents, +and in so many varied forms,—a tyranny to which these +parents are themselves insensible,—that I desire to paint +my joys and sorrows in as vivid colors as possible, in the +hope that I may do something to defend the weak from +the strong. People never dream of all that is going +on in the little heads of the young, for few adults are +given to introspection, and those who are incapable of +recalling their own feelings under restraint and disappointment +can have no appreciation of the sufferings +of children who can neither describe nor analyze what +they feel. In defending themselves against injustice +they are as helpless as dumb animals. What is insignificant +to their elders is often to them a source of great +joy or sorrow.</p> +<p>With several generations of vigorous, enterprising +ancestors behind me, I commenced the struggle of life +under favorable circumstances on the 12th day of +November, 1815, the same year that my father, Daniel +Cady, a distinguished lawyer and judge in the State of +New York, was elected to Congress. Perhaps the excitement +of a political campaign, in which my mother +took the deepest interest, may have had an influence on +my prenatal life and given me the strong desire that +I have always felt to participate in the rights and duties +of government.</p> +<p><a name="Page_3"></a>My father was a man of firm character and +unimpeachable +integrity, and yet sensitive and modest to a +painful degree. There were but two places in which he +felt at ease—in the courthouse and at his own fireside. +Though gentle and tender, he had such a dignified repose +and reserve of manner that, as children, we +regarded him with fear rather than affection.</p> +<p>My mother, Margaret Livingston, a tall, queenly +looking woman, was courageous, self-reliant, and at her +ease under all circumstances and in all places. She was +the daughter of Colonel James Livingston, who took +an active part in the War of the Revolution.</p> +<p>Colonel Livingston was stationed at West Point +when Arnold made the attempt to betray that stronghold +into the hands of the enemy. In the absence of +General Washington and his superior officer, he took +the responsibility of firing into the <i>Vulture</i>, a suspicious +looking British vessel that lay at anchor near the +opposite bank of the Hudson River. It was a fatal shot +for André, the British spy, with whom Arnold was then +consummating his treason. Hit between wind and +water, the vessel spread her sails and hastened down the +river, leaving André, with his papers, to be captured +while Arnold made his escape through the lines, before +his treason was suspected.</p> +<p>On General Washington's return to West Point, he +sent for my grandfather and reprimanded him for acting +in so important a matter without orders, thereby +making himself liable to court-martial; but, after fully +impressing the young officer with the danger of such +self-sufficiency on ordinary occasions, he admitted that a +most fortunate shot had been sent into the <i>Vulture</i>, +"for," he said, "we are in no condition just now to de<a name="Page_4"></a>fend +ourselves against the British forces in New York, +and the capture of this spy has saved us."</p> +<p>My mother had the military idea of government, but +her children, like their grandfather, were disposed to +assume the responsibility of their own actions; thus the +ancestral traits in mother and children modified, in a +measure, the dangerous tendencies in each.</p> +<p>Our parents were as kind, indulgent, and considerate +as the Puritan ideas of those days permitted, but fear, +rather than love, of God and parents alike, predominated. +Add to this our timidity in our intercourse with +servants and teachers, our dread of the ever present +devil, and the reader will see that, under such conditions, +nothing but strong self-will and a good share +of hope and mirthfulness could have saved an ordinary +child from becoming a mere nullity.</p> +<p>The first event engraved on my memory was the birth +of a sister when I was four years old. It was a cold +morning in January when the brawny Scotch nurse carried +me to see the little stranger, whose advent was a +matter of intense interest to me for many weeks after. +The large, pleasant room with the white curtains and +bright wood fire on the hearth, where panada, catnip, +and all kinds of little messes which we were allowed to +taste were kept warm, was the center of attraction for +the older children. I heard so many friends remark, +"What a pity it is she's a girl!" that I felt a kind of +compassion for the little baby. True, our family consisted +of five girls and only one boy, but I did not +understand at that time that girls were considered an +inferior order of beings.</p> +<p>To form some idea of my surroundings at this time, +imagine a two-story white frame house with a hall +<a name="Page_5"></a>through the middle, rooms on either side, and a +large +back building with grounds on the side and rear, which +joined the garden of our good Presbyterian minister, +the Rev. Simon Hosack, of whom I shall have more to +say in another chapter. Our favorite resorts in the +house were the garret and cellar. In the former were +barrels of hickory nuts, and, on a long shelf, large cakes +of maple sugar and all kinds of dried herbs and sweet +flag; spinning wheels, a number of small white cotton +bags filled with bundles, marked in ink, "silk," "cotton," +"flannel," "calico," etc., as well as ancient masculine +and feminine costumes. Here we would crack the +nuts, nibble the sharp edges of the maple sugar, chew +some favorite herb, play ball with the bags, whirl the old +spinning wheels, dress up in our ancestors' clothes, and +take a bird's-eye view of the surrounding country from +an enticing scuttle hole. This was forbidden ground; +but, nevertheless, we often went there on the sly, which +only made the little escapades more enjoyable.</p> +<p>The cellar of our house was filled, in winter, with +barrels of apples, vegetables, salt meats, cider, butter, +pounding barrels, washtubs, etc., offering admirable +nooks for playing hide and seek. Two tallow candles +threw a faint light over the scene on certain occasions. +This cellar was on a level with a large kitchen where we +played blind man's buff and other games when the day's +work was done. These two rooms are the center of +many of the merriest memories of my childhood days.</p> +<p>I can recall three colored men, Abraham, Peter, and +Jacob, who acted as menservants in our youth. In +turn they would sometimes play on the banjo for us to +dance, taking real enjoyment in our games. They are +all at rest now with "Old Uncle Ned in the place where +<a name="Page_6"></a>the good niggers go." Our nurses, Lockey Danford, +Polly Bell, Mary Dunn, and Cornelia Nickeloy—peace +to their ashes—were the only shadows on the gayety +of these winter evenings; for their chief delight was to +hurry us off to bed, that they might receive their beaux +or make short calls in the neighborhood. My memory +of them is mingled with no sentiment of gratitude or +affection. In expressing their opinion of us in after +years, they said we were a very troublesome, obstinate, +disobedient set of children. I have no doubt we were +in constant rebellion against their petty tyranny. +Abraham, Peter, and Jacob viewed us in a different +light, and I have the most pleasant recollections of their +kind services.</p> +<p>In the winter, outside the house, we had the snow +with which to build statues and make forts, and huge +piles of wood covered with ice, which we called the +Alps, so difficult were they of ascent and descent. +There we would climb up and down by the hour, if not +interrupted, which, however, was generally the case. It +always seemed to me that, in the height of our enthusiasm, +we were invariably summoned to some +disagreeable duty, which would appear to show that +thus early I keenly enjoyed outdoor life. Theodore +Tilton has thus described the place where I was born: +"Birthplace is secondary parentage, and transmits +character. Johnstown was more famous half a century +ago than since; for then, though small, it was a marked +intellectual center; and now, though large, it is an unmarked +manufacturing town. Before the birth of +Elizabeth Cady it was the vice-ducal seat of Sir William +Johnson, the famous English negotiator with the +Indians. During her girlhood it was an arena for the +<a name="Page_7"></a>intellectual wrestlings of Kent, Tompkins, +Spencer, +Elisha Williams, and Abraham Van Vechten, who, as +lawyers, were among the chiefest of their time. It is +now devoted mainly to the fabrication of steel springs +and buckskin gloves. So, like Wordsworth's early +star, it has faded into the light of common day. But +Johnstown retains one of its ancient splendors—a glory +still fresh as at the foundation of the world. Standing +on its hills, one looks off upon a country of enameled +meadow lands, that melt away southward toward the +Mohawk, and northward to the base of those grand +mountains which are 'God's monument over the grave +of John Brown.'"</p> +<p>Harold Frederic's novel, "In the Valley," contains +many descriptions of this region that are true to nature, +as I remember the Mohawk Valley, for I first knew it +not so many years after the scenes which he lays there. +Before I was old enough to take in the glory of this +scenery and its classic associations, Johnstown was to +me a gloomy-looking town. The middle of the streets +was paved with large cobblestones, over which the +farmer's wagons rattled from morning till night, while +the sidewalks were paved with very small cobblestones, +over which we carefully picked our way, so that free and +graceful walking was out of the question. The streets +were lined with solemn poplar trees, from which small +yellow worms were continually dangling down. Next +to the Prince of Darkness, I feared these worms. They +were harmless, but the sight of one made me tremble. +So many people shared in this feeling that the poplars +were all cut down and elms planted in their stead. The +Johnstown academy and churches were large square +buildings, painted white, surrounded by these same +<a name="Page_8"></a>sombre poplars, each edifice having a doleful bell +which +seemed to be ever tolling for school, funerals, church, +or prayer meetings. Next to the worms, those clanging +bells filled me with the utmost dread; they seemed +like so many warnings of an eternal future. Visions of +the Inferno were strongly impressed on my childish +imagination. It was thought, in those days, that firm +faith in hell and the devil was the greatest help to virtue. +It certainly made me very unhappy whenever my +mind dwelt on such teachings, and I have always had +my doubts of the virtue that is based on the fear of +punishment.</p> +<p>Perhaps I may be pardoned a word devoted to my +appearance in those days. I have been told that I was +a plump little girl, with very fair skin, rosy cheeks, good +features, dark-brown hair, and laughing blue eyes. A +student in my father's office, the late Henry Bayard of +Delaware (an uncle of our recent Ambassador to the +Court of St. James's, Thomas F. Bayard), told me one +day, after conning my features carefully, that I had one +defect which he could remedy. "Your eyebrows +should be darker and heavier," said he, "and if you will +let me shave them once or twice, you will be much improved." +I consented, and, slight as my eyebrows +were, they seemed to have had some expression, for the +loss of them had a most singular effect on my appearance. +Everybody, including even the operator, laughed +at my odd-looking face, and I was in the depths of +humiliation during the period while my eyebrows +were growing out again. It is scarcely necessary for +me to add that I never allowed the young man +to repeat the experiment, although strongly urged to +do so.</p> +<p><a name="Page_9"></a>I cannot recall how or when I conquered the +alphabet, +words in three letters, the multiplication table, the +points of the compass, the chicken pox, whooping +cough, measles, and scarlet fever. All these unhappy +incidents of childhood left but little impression on my +mind. I have, however, most pleasant memories of the +good spinster, Maria Yost, who patiently taught three +generations of children the rudiments of the English +language, and introduced us to the pictures in "Murray's +Spelling-book," where Old Father Time, with his +scythe, and the farmer stoning the boys in his apple +trees, gave rise in my mind to many serious reflections. +Miss Yost was plump and rosy, with fair hair, and had +a merry twinkle in her blue eyes, and she took us by +very easy stages through the old-fashioned school-books. +The interesting Readers children now have +were unknown sixty years ago. We did not reach the +temple of knowledge by the flowery paths of ease in +which our descendants now walk.</p> +<p>I still have a perfect vision of myself and sisters, as +we stood up in the classes, with our toes at the cracks +in the floor, all dressed alike in bright red flannel, black +alpaca aprons, and, around the neck, a starched ruffle +that, through a lack of skill on the part of either the +laundress or the nurse who sewed them in, proved a constant +source of discomfort to us. I have since seen +full-grown men, under slighter provocation than we +endured, jerk off a collar, tear it in two, and throw it +to the winds, chased by the most soul-harrowing expletives. +But we were sternly rebuked for complaining, +and if we ventured to introduce our little fingers +between the delicate skin and the irritating linen, our +hands were slapped and the ruffle readjusted a degree +<a name="Page_10"></a>closer. Our Sunday dresses were relieved with a +black +sprig and white aprons. We had red cloaks, red hoods, +red mittens, and red stockings. For one's self to be all +in red six months of the year was bad enough, but to +have this costume multiplied by three was indeed monotonous. +I had such an aversion to that color that I +used to rebel regularly at the beginning of each season +when new dresses were purchased, until we finally +passed into an exquisite shade of blue. No words +could do justice to my dislike of those red dresses. My +grandfather's detestation of the British redcoats must +have descended to me. My childhood's antipathy to +wearing red enabled me later to comprehend the feelings +of a little niece, who hated everything pea green, +because she had once heard the saying, "neat but not +gaudy, as the devil said when he painted his tail pea +green." So when a friend brought her a cravat of that +color she threw it on the floor and burst into tears, saying, +"I could not wear that, for it is the color of the +devil's tail." I sympathized with the child and had it +changed for the hue she liked. Although we cannot +always understand the ground for children's preferences, +it is often well to heed them.</p> +<p>I am told that I was pensively looking out of the +nursery window one day, when Mary Dunn, the Scotch +nurse, who was something of a philosopher, and a stern +Presbyterian, said: "Child, what are you thinking +about; are you planning some new form of mischief?" +"No, Mary," I replied, "I was wondering why it was +that everything we like to do is a sin, and that everything +we dislike is commanded by God or someone on +earth. I am so tired of that everlasting no! no! no! +At school, at home, everywhere it is <i>no</i>! Even at +<a name="Page_11"></a>church all the commandments begin 'Thou shalt +not.' +I suppose God will say 'no' to all we like in the next +world, just as you do here." Mary was dreadfully +shocked at my dissatisfaction with the things of time +and prospective eternity, and exhorted me to cultivate +the virtues of obedience and humility.</p> +<p>I well remember the despair I felt in those years, as I +took in the whole situation, over the constant cribbing +and crippling of a child's life. I suppose I found fit +language in which to express my thoughts, for Mary +Dunn told me, years after, how our discussion roused +my sister Margaret, who was an attentive listener. I +must have set forth our wrongs in clear, unmistakable +terms; for Margaret exclaimed one day, "I tell you +what to do. Hereafter let us act as we choose, without +asking." "Then," said I, "we shall be punished." +"Suppose we are," said she, "we shall have had our +fun at any rate, and that is better than to mind the +everlasting 'no' and not have any fun at all." Her +logic seemed unanswerable, so together we gradually +acted on her suggestions. Having less imagination +than I, she took a common-sense view of life and suffered +nothing from anticipation of troubles, while my +sorrows were intensified fourfold by innumerable apprehensions +of possible exigencies.</p> +<p>Our nursery, a large room over a back building, had +three barred windows reaching nearly to the floor. +Two of these opened on a gently slanting roof over a +veranda. In our night robes, on warm summer evenings +we could, by dint of skillful twisting and compressing, +get out between the bars, and there, snugly braced +against the house, we would sit and enjoy the moon +and stars and what sounds might reach us from the +<a name="Page_12"></a>streets, while the nurse, gossiping at the back +door, +imagined we were safely asleep.</p> +<p>I have a confused memory of being often under +punishment for what, in those days, were called "tantrums." +I suppose they were really justifiable acts of +rebellion against the tyranny of those in authority. I +have often listened since, with real satisfaction, to what +some of our friends had to say of the high-handed manner +in which sister Margaret and I defied all the transient +orders and strict rules laid down for our guidance. +If we had observed them we might as well have been +embalmed as mummies, for all the pleasure and freedom +we should have had in our childhood. As very little +was then done for the amusement of children, happy +were those who <i>conscientiously</i> took the liberty of amusing +themselves.</p> +<p>One charming feature of our village was a stream of +water, called the Cayadutta, which ran through the +north end, in which it was our delight to walk on the +broad slate stones when the water was low, in order to +pick up pretty pebbles. These joys were also forbidden, +though indulged in as opportunity afforded, especially +as sister Margaret's philosophy was found to work +successfully and we had finally risen above our infantile +fear of punishment.</p> +<p>Much of my freedom at this time was due to this +sister, who afterward became the wife of Colonel Duncan +McMartin of Iowa. I can see her now, hat in hand, +her long curls flying in the wind, her nose slightly retroussé, +her large dark eyes flashing with glee, and her +small straight mouth so expressive of determination. +Though two years my junior, she was larger and +stronger than I and more fearless and self-reliant. She +<a name="Page_13"></a>was always ready to start when any pleasure +offered, +and, if I hesitated, she would give me a jerk and say, +emphatically: "Oh, come along!" and away we went.</p> +<p>About this time we entered the Johnstown Academy, +where we made the acquaintance of the daughters of +the hotel keeper and the county sheriff. They were a +few years my senior, but, as I was ahead of them in all +my studies, the difference of age was somewhat equalized +and we became fast friends. This acquaintance +opened to us two new sources of enjoyment—the freedom +of the hotel during "court week" (a great event +in village life) and the exploration of the county jail. +Our Scotch nurse had told us so many thrilling tales of +castles, prisons, and dungeons in the Old World that, to +see the great keys and iron doors, the handcuffs and +chains, and the prisoners in their cells seemed like a +veritable visit to Mary's native land. We made frequent +visits to the jail and became deeply concerned +about the fate of the prisoners, who were greatly pleased +with our expressions of sympathy and our gifts of cake +and candy. In time we became interested in the trials +and sentences of prisoners, and would go to the courthouse +and listen to the proceedings. Sometimes we +would slip into the hotel where the judges and lawyers +dined, and help our little friend wait on table. The +rushing of servants to and fro, the calling of guests, the +scolding of servants in the kitchen, the banging of +doors, the general hubbub, the noise and clatter, were +all idealized by me into one of those royal festivals Mary +so often described. To be allowed to carry plates of +bread and butter, pie and cheese I counted a high privilege. +But more especially I enjoyed listening to the +conversations in regard to the probable fate of +<a name="Page_14"></a>our friends the prisoners in the jail. On one +occasion +I projected a few remarks into a conversation +between two lawyers, when one of them turned +abruptly to me and said, "Child, you'd better attend +to your business; bring me a glass of water." I +replied indignantly, "I am not a servant; I am here for +fun."</p> +<p>In all these escapades we were followed by Peter, +black as coal and six feet in height. It seems to me now +that his chief business was to discover our whereabouts, +get us home to dinner, and take us back to school. +Fortunately he was overflowing with curiosity and not +averse to lingering a while where anything of interest +was to be seen or heard, and, as we were deemed perfectly +safe under his care, no questions were asked when +we got to the house, if we had been with him. He had +a long head and, through his diplomacy, we escaped +much disagreeable surveillance. Peter was very fond of +attending court. All the lawyers knew him, and wherever +Peter went, the three little girls in his charge went, +too. Thus, with constant visits to the jail, courthouse, +and my father's office, I gleaned some idea of the danger +of violating the law.</p> +<p>The great events of the year were the Christmas +holidays, the Fourth of July, and "general training," +as the review of the county militia was then called. +The winter gala days are associated, in my memory, +with hanging up stockings and with turkeys, mince +pies, sweet cider, and sleighrides by moonlight. My +earliest recollections of those happy days, when schools +were closed, books laid aside, and unusual liberties +allowed, center in that large cellar kitchen to which I +have already referred. There we spent many winter +<a name="Page_15"></a>evenings in uninterrupted enjoyment. A large +fireplace +with huge logs shed warmth and cheerfulness +around. In one corner sat Peter sawing his violin, +while our youthful neighbors danced with us and played +blindman's buff almost every evening during the vacation. +The most interesting character in this game was +a black boy called Jacob (Peter's lieutenant), who made +things lively for us by always keeping one eye open—a +wise precaution to guard himself from danger, and to +keep us on the jump. Hickory nuts, sweet cider, and +<i>olie-koeks</i> (a Dutch name for a fried cake with raisins inside) +were our refreshments when there came a lull in +the fun.</p> +<p>As St. Nicholas was supposed to come down the +chimney, our stockings were pinned on a broomstick, +laid across two chairs in front of the fireplace. We +retired on Christmas Eve with the most pleasing anticipations +of what would be in our stockings next morning. +The thermometer in that latitude was often +twenty degrees below zero, yet, bright and early, we +would run downstairs in our bare feet over the cold +floors to carry stockings, broom, etc., to the nursery. +The gorgeous presents that St. Nicholas now distributes +show that he, too, has been growing up with the +country. The boys and girls of 1897 will laugh when +they hear of the contents of our stockings in 1823. +There was a little paper of candy, one of raisins, another, +of nuts, a red apple, an <i>olie-koek</i>, and a bright silver +quarter of a dollar in the toe. If a child had been +guilty of any erratic performances during the year, +which was often my case, a long stick would protrude +from the stocking; if particularly good, an illustrated +catechism or the New Testament would appear, show<a name="Page_16"></a>ing +that the St. Nicholas of that time held decided views +on discipline and ethics.</p> +<p>During the day we would take a drive over the snow-clad +hills and valleys in a long red lumber sleigh. All +the children it could hold made the forests echo with +their songs and laughter. The sleigh bells and Peter's +fine tenor voice added to the chorus seemed to chant, +as we passed, "Merry Christmas" to the farmers' +children and to all we met on the highway.</p> +<p>Returning home, we were allowed, as a great Christmas +treat, to watch all Peter's preparations for dinner. +Attired in a white apron and turban, holding in +his hand a tin candlestick the size of a dinner +plate, containing a tallow candle, with stately step +he marched into the spacious cellar, with Jacob +and three little girls dressed in red flannel at his +heels. As the farmers paid the interest on their mortgages +in barrels of pork, headcheese, poultry, eggs, +and cider, the cellars were well crowded for the +winter, making the master of an establishment quite +indifferent to all questions of finance. We heard +nothing in those days of greenbacks, silver coinage, or +a gold basis. Laden with vegetables, butter, eggs, and +a magnificent turkey, Peter and his followers returned +to the kitchen. There, seated on a big ironing table, +we watched the dressing and roasting of the bird in a +tin oven in front of the fire. Jacob peeled the vegetables, +we all sang, and Peter told us marvelous stories. +For tea he made flapjacks, baked in a pan with a long +handle, which he turned by throwing the cake up and +skillfully catching it descending.</p> +<p>Peter was a devout Episcopalian and took great +pleasure in helping the young people decorate the +<a name="Page_17"></a>church. He would take us with him and show us +how to make evergreen wreaths. Like Mary's lamb, +where'er he went we were sure to go. His love for us +was unbounded and fully returned. He was the only +being, visible or invisible, of whom we had no fear. We +would go to divine service with Peter, Christmas morning +and sit with him by the door, in what was called +"the negro pew." He was the only colored member of +the church and, after all the other communicants had +taken the sacrament, he went alone to the altar. +Dressed in a new suit of blue with gilt buttons, he +looked like a prince, as, with head erect, he walked up +the aisle, the grandest specimen of manhood in the +whole congregation; and yet so strong was prejudice +against color in 1823 that no one would kneel beside +him. On leaving us, on one of these occasions, Peter +told us all to sit still until he returned; but, no sooner +had he started, than the youngest of us slowly followed +after him and seated herself close beside him. As he +came back, holding the child by the hand, what a lesson +it must have been to that prejudiced congregation! +The first time we entered the church together the sexton +opened a white man's pew for us, telling Peter to +leave the Judge's children there. "Oh," he said, "they +will not stay there without me." But, as he could not +enter, we instinctively followed him to the negro pew.</p> +<p>Our next great fête was on the anniversary of the +birthday of our Republic. The festivities were numerous +and protracted, beginning then, as now, at midnight +with bonfires and cannon; while the day was +ushered in with the ringing of bells, tremendous cannonading, +and a continuous popping of fire-crackers and +torpedoes. Then a procession of soldiers and citizens +<a name="Page_18"></a>marched through the town, an oration was +delivered, +the Declaration of Independence read, and a great dinner +given in the open air under the trees in the grounds +of the old courthouse. Each toast was announced with +the booming of cannon. On these occasions Peter +was in his element, and showed us whatever he considered +worth seeing; but I cannot say that I enjoyed +very much either "general training" or the Fourth of +July, for, in addition to my fear of cannon and torpedoes, +my sympathies were deeply touched by the sadness +of our cook, whose drunken father always cut antics +in the streets on gala days, the central figure in all +the sports of the boys, much to the mortification of his +worthy daughter. She wept bitterly over her father's +public exhibition of himself, and told me in what a condition +he would come home to his family at night. I +would gladly have stayed in with her all day, but the fear +of being called a coward compelled me to go through +those trying ordeals. As my nerves were all on the +surface, no words can describe what I suffered with +those explosions, great and small, and my fears lest +King George and his minions should reappear among +us. I thought that, if he had done all the dreadful +things stated in the Declaration of '76, he might come +again, burn our houses, and drive us all into the street. +Sir William Johnson's mansion of solid masonry, +gloomy and threatening, still stood in our neighborhood. +I had seen the marks of the Indian's tomahawk +on the balustrades and heard of the bloody +deeds there enacted. For all the calamities of the +nation I believed King George responsible. At home +and at school we were educated to hate the English. +When we remember that, every Fourth of July, the +Declaration was read with emphasis, and the orator of +<a name="Page_19"></a>the day rounded all his glowing periods with +denunciations +of the mother country, we need not wonder at +the national hatred of everything English. Our patriotism +in those early days was measured by our dislike +of Great Britain.</p> +<p>In September occurred the great event, the review +of the county militia, popularly called "Training Day." +Then everybody went to the race course to see the +troops and buy what the farmers had brought in +their wagons. There was a peculiar kind of gingerbread +and molasses candy to which we were treated on +those occasions, associated in my mind to this day with +military reviews and standing armies.</p> +<p>Other pleasures were, roaming in the forests and sailing +on the mill pond. One day, when there were no +boys at hand and several girls were impatiently waiting +for a sail on a raft, my sister and I volunteered to man +the expedition. We always acted on the assumption +that what we had seen done, we could do. Accordingly +we all jumped on the raft, loosened it from its +moorings, and away we went with the current. Navigation +on that mill pond was performed with long +poles, but, unfortunately, we could not lift the poles, +and we soon saw we were drifting toward the dam. +But we had the presence of mind to sit down and hold +fast to the raft. Fortunately, we went over right side +up and gracefully glided down the stream, until rescued +by the ever watchful Peter. I did not hear the +last of that voyage for a long time. I was called the +captain of the expedition, and one of the boys wrote a +composition, which he read in school, describing the +adventure and emphasizing the ignorance of the laws of +navigation shown by the officers in command. I shed +tears many times over that performance.</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_II"></a> +<h2><a name="Page_20"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> +<h2>SCHOOL DAYS.</h2> +<p>When I was eleven years old, two events occurred +which changed considerably the current of my life. My +only brother, who had just graduated from Union College, +came home to die. A young man of great talent +and promise, he was the pride of my father's heart. We +early felt that this son filled a larger place in our father's +affections and future plans than the five daughters together. +Well do I remember how tenderly he watched +my brother in his last illness, the sighs and tears he gave +vent to as he slowly walked up and down the hall, and, +when the last sad moment came, and we were all assembled +to say farewell in the silent chamber of death, how +broken were his utterances as he knelt and prayed for +comfort and support. I still recall, too, going into the +large darkened parlor to see my brother, and finding the +casket, mirrors, and pictures all draped in white, and +my father seated by his side, pale and immovable. +As he took no notice of me, after standing a long while, +I climbed upon his knee, when he mechanically put his +arm about me and, with my head resting against his +beating heart, we both sat in silence, he thinking of the +wreck of all his hopes in the loss of a dear son, and I +wondering what could be said or done to fill the void +in his breast. At length he heaved a deep sigh and +said: "Oh, my daughter, I wish you were a boy!" +<a name="Page_21"></a>Throwing my arms about his neck, I replied: "I +will +try to be all my brother was."</p> +<div style="text-align: left;"><br> +</div> +<br> +<table style="text-align: left; width: 100%;" border="0" cellspacing="2" + cellpadding="2"> + <tbody> + <tr> + <td style="vertical-align: top; width: 50%;"><a name="img002"></a><img + title="MARGARET LIVINGSTON CADY." style="width: 400px; height: 655px;" + alt="MARGARET LIVINGSTON CADY." src="image/002.jpg"><br> + </td> + <td style="vertical-align: top;"><a name="img003"></a><img + style="width: 400px; height: 625px;" alt="JUDGE DANIEL CADY." + title="JUDGE DANIEL CADY." src="image/003.jpg"><br> + </td> + </tr> + </tbody> +</table> +<br> +<p>Then and there I resolved that I would not give so +much time as heretofore to play, but would study and +strive to be at the head of all my classes and thus delight +my father's heart. All that day and far into the +night I pondered the problem of boyhood. I thought +that the chief thing to be done in order to equal boys +was to be learned and courageous. So I decided to +study Greek and learn to manage a horse. Having +formed this conclusion I fell asleep. My resolutions, +unlike many such made at night, did not vanish with +the coming light. I arose early and hastened to put +them into execution. They were resolutions never to +be forgotten—destined to mold my character anew. +As soon as I was dressed I hastened to our good pastor, +Rev. Simon Hosack, who was always early at work in +his garden.</p> +<p>"Doctor," said I, "which do you like best, boys or +girls?"</p> +<p>"Why, girls, to be sure; I would not give you for +all the boys in Christendom."</p> +<p>"My father," I replied, "prefers boys; he wishes I +was one, and I intend to be as near like one as possible. +I am going to ride on horseback and study Greek. Will +you give me a Greek lesson now, doctor? I want to +begin at once."</p> +<p>"Yes, child," said he, throwing down his hoe, "come +into my library and we will begin without delay."</p> +<p>He entered fully into the feeling of suffering and sorrow +which took possession of me when I discovered +that a girl weighed less in the scale of being than a boy, +and he praised my determination to prove the con<a name="Page_22"></a>trary. +The old grammar which he had studied in the +University of Glasgow was soon in my hands, and the +Greek article was learned before breakfast.</p> +<p>Then came the sad pageantry of death, the weeping +of friends, the dark rooms, the ghostly stillness, the +exhortation to the living to prepare for death, the +solemn prayer, the mournful chant, the funeral cortège, +the solemn, tolling bell, the burial. How I suffered during +those sad days! What strange undefined fears of +the unknown took possession of me! For months +afterward, at the twilight hour, I went with my father +to the new-made grave. Near it stood two tall poplar +trees, against one of which I leaned, while my father +threw himself on the grave, with outstretched arms, as +if to embrace his child. At last the frosts and storms of +November came and threw a chilling barrier between +the living and the dead, and we went there no more.</p> +<p>During all this time I kept up my lessons at the parsonage +and made rapid progress. I surprised even my +teacher, who thought me capable of doing anything. I +learned to drive, and to leap a fence and ditch on horseback. +I taxed every power, hoping some day to hear +my father say: "Well, a girl is as good as a boy, after +all." But he never said it. When the doctor came +over to spend the evening with us, I would whisper in +his ear: "Tell my father how fast I get on," and he +would tell him, and was lavish in his praises. But my +father only paced the room, sighed, and showed that +he wished I were a boy; and I, not knowing why he +felt thus, would hide my tears of vexation on the doctor's +shoulder.</p> +<p>Soon after this I began to study Latin, Greek, and +mathematics with a class of boys in the Academy, many +<a name="Page_23"></a>of whom were much older than I. For three years +one boy kept his place at the head of the class, and I +always stood next. Two prizes were offered in Greek. +I strove for one and took the second. How well I remember +my joy in receiving that prize. There was no +sentiment of ambition, rivalry, or triumph over my companions, +nor feeling of satisfaction in receiving this +honor in the presence of those assembled on the day of +the exhibition. One thought alone filled my mind. +"Now," said I, "my father will be satisfied with me." +So, as soon as we were dismissed, I ran down the hill, +rushed breathless into his office, laid the new Greek +Testament, which was my prize, on his table and exclaimed: +"There, I got it!" He took up the book, +asked me some questions about the class, the teachers, +the spectators, and, evidently pleased, handed it back +to me. Then, while I stood looking and waiting for +him to say something which would show that he recognized +the equality of the daughter with the son, he +kissed me on the forehead and exclaimed, with a sigh, +"Ah, you should have been a boy!"</p> +<p>My joy was turned to sadness. I ran to my good +doctor. He chased my bitter tears away, and soothed +me with unbounded praises and visions of future success. +He was then confined to the house with his last +illness. He asked me that day if I would like to have, +when he was gone, the old lexicon, Testament, and +grammar that we had so often thumbed together. +"Yes, but I would rather have you stay," I replied, "for +what can I do when you are gone?" "Oh," said he +tenderly, "I shall not be gone; my spirit will still be +with you, watching you in all life's struggles." Noble, +generous friend! He had but little on earth to be<a name="Page_24"></a>queath +to anyone, but when the last scene in his life +was ended, and his will was opened, sure enough there +was a clause saying: "My Greek lexicon, Testament, and +grammar, and four volumes of Scott's commentaries, +I will to Elizabeth Cady." I never look at these books +without a feeling of thankfulness that in childhood I +was blessed with such a friend and teacher.</p> +<p>I can truly say, after an experience of seventy years, +that all the cares and anxieties, the trials and disappointments +of my whole life, are light, when balanced +with my sufferings in childhood and youth from the +theological dogmas which I sincerely believed, and +the gloom connected with everything associated with +the name of religion, the church, the parsonage, the +graveyard, and the solemn, tolling bell. Everything +connected with death was then rendered inexpressibly +dolorous. The body, covered with a black pall, was +borne on the shoulders of men; the mourners were in +crape and walked with bowed heads, while the neighbors +who had tears to shed, did so copiously and summoned +up their saddest facial expressions. At the +grave came the sober warnings to the living and sometimes +frightful prophesies as to the state of the dead. +All this pageantry of woe and visions of the unknown +land beyond the tomb, often haunted my midnight +dreams and shadowed the sunshine of my days. The +parsonage, with its bare walls and floors, its shriveled +mistress and her blind sister, more like ghostly shadows +than human flesh and blood; the two black servants, +racked with rheumatism and odoriferous with a pungent +oil they used in the vain hope of making their +weary limbs more supple; the aged parson buried in his +library in the midst of musty books and papers—all this +<a name="Page_25"></a>only added to the gloom of my surroundings. The +church, which was bare, with no furnace to warm us, +no organ to gladden our hearts, no choir to lead our +songs of praise in harmony, was sadly lacking in all attractions +for the youthful mind. The preacher, shut up +in an octagonal box high above our heads, gave us sermons +over an hour long, and the chorister, in a similar +box below him, intoned line after line of David's Psalms, +while, like a flock of sheep at the heels of their shepherd, +the congregation, without regard to time or tune, +straggled after their leader.</p> +<p>Years later, the introduction of stoves, a violoncello, +Wesley's hymns, and a choir split the church in twain. +These old Scotch Presbyterians were opposed to all +innovations that would afford their people paths of +flowery ease on the road to Heaven. So, when the +thermometer was twenty degrees below zero on the +Johnstown Hills, four hundred feet above the Mohawk +Valley, we trudged along through the snow, foot-stoves +in hand, to the cold hospitalities of the "Lord's House," +there to be chilled to the very core by listening to sermons +on "predestination," "justification by faith," and +"eternal damnation."</p> +<p>To be restless, or to fall asleep under such solemn circumstances +was a sure evidence of total depravity, and +of the machinations of the devil striving to turn one's +heart from God and his ordinances. As I was guilty +of these shortcomings and many more, I early believed +myself a veritable child of the Evil One, and +suffered endless fears lest he should come some night +and claim me as his own. To me he was a personal, +ever-present reality, crouching in a dark corner of the +nursery. Ah! how many times I have stolen out of +<a name="Page_26"></a>bed, and sat shivering on the stairs, where the +hall lamp +and the sound of voices from the parlor would, in a +measure, mitigate my terror. Thanks to a vigorous +constitution and overflowing animal spirits, I was able +to endure for years the strain of these depressing influences, +until my reasoning powers and common sense +triumphed at last over my imagination. The memory +of my own suffering has prevented me from ever +shadowing one young soul with any of the superstitions +of the Christian religion. But there have been +many changes, even in my native town, since those +dark days. Our old church was turned into a mitten +factory, and the pleasant hum of machinery and the glad +faces of men and women have chased the evil spirits to +their hiding places. One finds at Johnstown now, beautiful +churches, ornamented cemeteries, and cheerful +men and women, quite emancipated from the nonsense +and terrors of the old theologies.</p> +<p>An important event in our family circle was the marriage +of my oldest sister, Tryphena, to Edward Bayard +of Wilmington, Delaware. He was a graduate of +Union College, a classmate of my brother, and frequently +visited at my father's house. At the end of +his college course, he came with his brother Henry to +study law in Johnstown. A quiet, retired little village +was thought to be a good place in which to sequester +young men bent on completing their education, as they +were there safe from the temptations and distracting +influences of large cities. In addition to this consideration, +my father's reputation made his office a desirable +resort for students, who, furthermore, not only +improved their opportunities by reading Blackstone, +Kent, and Story, but also by making love to the Judge's +<a name="Page_27"></a>daughters. We thus had the advantage of many +pleasant +acquaintances from the leading families in the country, +and, in this way, it was that four of the sisters +eventually selected most worthy husbands.</p> +<p>Though only twenty-one years of age when married, +Edward Bayard was a tall, fully developed man, +remarkably fine looking, with cultivated literary taste +and a profound knowledge of human nature. Warm +and affectionate, generous to a fault in giving and serving, +he was soon a great favorite in the family, and +gradually filled the void made in all our hearts by the +loss of the brother and son.</p> +<p>My father was so fully occupied with the duties of +his profession, which often called him from home, and +my mother so weary with the cares of a large family, +having had ten children, though only five survived at +this time, that they were quite willing to shift their burdens +to younger shoulders. Our eldest sister and her +husband, therefore, soon became our counselors and +advisers. They selected our clothing, books, schools, +acquaintances, and directed our reading and amusements. +Thus the reins of domestic government, little +by little, passed into their hands, and the family arrangements +were in a manner greatly improved in favor of +greater liberty for the children.</p> +<p>The advent of Edward and Henry Bayard was an inestimable +blessing to us. With them came an era of +picnics, birthday parties, and endless amusements; the +buying of pictures, fairy books, musical instruments +and ponies, and frequent excursions with parties on +horseback. Fresh from college, they made our lessons +in Latin, Greek, and mathematics so easy that we +studied with real pleasure and had more leisure for play. +<a name="Page_28"></a>Henry Bayard's chief pleasures were walking, +riding, +and playing all manner of games, from jack-straws to +chess, with the three younger sisters, and we have often +said that the three years he passed in Johnstown were +the most delightful of our girlhood.</p> +<p>Immediately after the death of my brother, a journey +was planned to visit our grandmother Cady, who lived +in Canaan, Columbia County, about twenty miles from +Albany. My two younger sisters and myself had never +been outside of our own county before, and the very +thought of a journey roused our enthusiasm to the +highest pitch. On a bright day in September we +started, packed in two carriages. We were wild with +delight as we drove down the Mohawk Valley, with its +beautiful river and its many bridges and ferryboats. +When we reached Schenectady, the first city we had ever +seen, we stopped to dine at the old Given's Hotel, where +we broke loose from all the moorings of propriety on +beholding the paper on the dining-room wall, illustrating +in brilliant colors the great events in sacred history. +There were the Patriarchs, with flowing beards and in +gorgeous attire; Abraham, offering up Isaac; Joseph, +with his coat of many colors, thrown into a pit by his +brethren; Noah's ark on an ocean of waters; Pharaoh +and his host in the Red Sea; Rebecca at the well, and +Moses in the bulrushes. All these distinguished personages +were familiar to us, and to see them here for +the first time in living colors, made silence and +eating impossible. We dashed around the room, +calling to each other: "Oh, Kate, look here!" "Oh, +Madge, look there!" "See little Moses!" "See the +angels on Jacob's ladder!" Our exclamations could +not be kept within bounds. The guests were amused +<a name="Page_29"></a>beyond description, while my mother and elder +sisters +were equally mortified; but Mr. Bayard, who appreciated +our childish surprise and delight, smiled and said: +"I'll take them around and show them the pictures, +and then they will be able to dine," which we finally +did.</p> +<p>On our way to Albany we were forced to listen to no +end of dissertations on manners, and severe criticisms on +our behavior at the hotel, but we were too happy and +astonished with all we saw to take a subjective view of +ourselves. Even Peter in his new livery, who had not +seen much more than we had, while looking out of the +corners of his eyes, maintained a quiet dignity and conjured +us "not to act as if we had just come out of the +woods and had never seen anything before." However, +there are conditions in the child soul in which repression +is impossible, when the mind takes in nothing +but its own enjoyment, and when even the sense of +hearing is lost in that of sight. The whole party awoke +to that fact at last. Children are not actors. We +never had experienced anything like this journey, and +how could we help being surprised and delighted?</p> +<p>When we drove into Albany, the first large city we +had ever visited, we exclaimed, "Why, it's general +training, here!" We had acquired our ideas of +crowds from our country militia reviews. Fortunately, +there was no pictorial wall paper in the old City +Hotel. But the decree had gone forth that, on the remainder +of the journey, our meals would be served in a +private room, with Peter to wait on us. This seemed +like going back to the nursery days and was very humiliating. +But eating, even there, was difficult, as we +could hear the band from the old museum, and, as our +<a name="Page_30"></a>windows opened on the street, the continual +panorama +of people and carriages passing by was quite as enticing +as the Bible scenes in Schenectady. In the evening we +walked around to see the city lighted, to look into the +shop windows, and to visit the museum. The next +morning we started for Canaan, our enthusiasm still +unabated, though strong hopes were expressed that we +would be toned down with the fatigues of the first day's +journey.</p> +<p>The large farm with its cattle, sheep, hens, ducks, +turkeys, and geese; its creamery, looms, and spinning +wheel; its fruits and vegetables; the drives among the +grand old hills; the blessed old grandmother, and the +many aunts, uncles, and cousins to kiss, all this kept +us still in a whirlpool of excitement. Our joy bubbled +over of itself; it was beyond our control. After spending +a delightful week at Canaan, we departed, with an +addition to our party, much to Peter's disgust, of a +bright, coal-black boy of fifteen summers. Peter kept +grumbling that he had children enough to look after +already, but, as the boy was handsome and intelligent, +could read, write, play on the jewsharp and banjo, sing, +dance, and stand on his head, we were charmed with +this new-found treasure, who proved later to be a great +family blessing. We were less vivacious on the return +trip. Whether this was due to Peter's untiring efforts +to keep us within bounds, or whether the novelty of +the journey was in a measure gone, it is difficult to determine, +but we evidently were not so buoyant and +were duly complimented on our good behavior.</p> +<p>When we reached home and told our village companions +what we had seen in our extensive travels (just +seventy miles from home) they were filled with wonder, +<a name="Page_31"></a>and we became heroines in their estimation. After +this +we took frequent journeys to Saratoga, the Northern +Lakes, Utica, and Peterboro, but were never again so +entirely swept from our feet as with the biblical illustrations +in the dining room of the old Given's Hotel.</p> +<p>As my father's office joined the house, I spent there +much of my time, when out of school, listening to the +clients stating their cases, talking with the students, +and reading the laws in regard to woman. In our +Scotch neighborhood many men still retained the old +feudal ideas of women and property. Fathers, at their +death, would will the bulk of their property to the eldest +son, with the proviso that the mother was to have a +home with him. Hence it was not unusual for the +mother, who had brought all the property into the +family, to be made an unhappy dependent on the bounty +of an uncongenial daughter-in-law and a dissipated son. +The tears and complaints of the women who came to my +father for legal advice touched my heart and early drew +my attention to the injustice and cruelty of the laws. +As the practice of the law was my father's business, I +could not exactly understand why he could not alleviate +the sufferings of these women. So, in order to +enlighten me, he would take down his books and show +me the inexorable statutes. The students, observing +my interest, would amuse themselves by reading to me +all the worst laws they could find, over which I would +laugh and cry by turns. One Christmas morning I +went into the office to show them, among other of my +presents, a new coral necklace and bracelets. They all +admired the jewelry and then began to tease me with +hypothetical cases of future ownership. "Now," said +Henry Bayard, "if in due time you should be my wife, +<a name="Page_32"></a>those ornaments would be mine; I could take them +and +lock them up, and you could never wear them except +with my permission. I could even exchange them for +a box of cigars, and you could watch them evaporate +in smoke."</p> +<p>With this constant bantering from students and the +sad complaints of the women, my mind was sorely perplexed. +So when, from time to time, my attention was +called to these odious laws, I would mark them with a +pencil, and becoming more and more convinced of the +necessity of taking some active measures against these +unjust provisions, I resolved to seize the first opportunity, +when alone in the office, to cut every one of +them out of the books; supposing my father and his +library were the beginning and the end of the law. +However, this mutilation of his volumes was never accomplished, +for dear old Flora Campbell, to whom I +confided my plan for the amelioration of the wrongs of +my unhappy sex, warned my father of what I proposed +to do. Without letting me know that he had discovered +my secret, he explained to me one evening how +laws were made, the large number of lawyers and libraries +there were all over the State, and that if his library +should burn up it would make no difference in woman's +condition. "When you are grown up, and able to prepare +a speech," said he, "you must go down to Albany +and talk to the legislators; tell them all you have seen +in this office—the sufferings of these Scotchwomen, +robbed of their inheritance and left dependent on their +unworthy sons, and, if you can persuade them to pass +new laws, the old ones will be a dead letter." Thus +was the future object of my life foreshadowed and +my duty plainly outlined by him who was most op<a name="Page_33"></a>posed +to my public career when, in due time, I entered +upon it.</p> +<p>Until I was sixteen years old, I was a faithful student +in the Johnstown Academy with a class of boys. +Though I was the only girl in the higher classes of +mathematics and the languages, yet, in our plays, all the +girls and boys mingled freely together. In running +races, sliding downhill, and snowballing, we made no distinction +of sex. True, the boys would carry the school +books and pull the sleighs up hill for their favorite +girls, but equality was the general basis of our school +relations. I dare say the boys did not make their snowballs +quite so hard when pelting the girls, nor wash +their faces with the same vehemence as they did each +other's, but there was no public evidence of partiality. +However, if any boy was too rough or took advantage +of a girl smaller than himself, he was promptly thrashed +by his fellows. There was an unwritten law and public +sentiment in that little Academy world that enabled us +to study and play together with the greatest freedom +and harmony.</p> +<p>From the academy the boys of my class went to +Union College at Schenectady. When those with +whom I had studied and contended for prizes for five +years came to bid me good-by, and I learned of the barrier +that prevented me from following in their footsteps—"no +girls admitted here"—my vexation and mortification +knew no bounds. I remember, now, how proud +and handsome the boys looked in their new clothes, as +they jumped into the old stage coach and drove off, +and how lonely I felt when they were gone and I had +nothing to do, for the plans for my future were yet undetermined. +Again I felt more keenly than ever the +<a name="Page_34"></a>humiliation of the distinctions made on the +ground of +sex.</p> +<p>My time was now occupied with riding on horseback, +studying the game of chess, and continually squabbling +with the law students over the rights of women. +Something was always coming up in the experiences of +everyday life, or in the books we were reading, to give us +fresh topics for argument. They would read passages +from the British classics quite as aggravating as the laws. +They delighted in extracts from Shakespeare, especially +from "The Taming of the Shrew," an admirable +satire in itself on the old common law of England. I +hated Petruchio as if he were a real man. Young Bayard +would recite with unction the famous reply of +Milton's ideal woman to Adam: "God thy law, thou +mine." The Bible, too, was brought into requisition. +In fact it seemed to me that every book taught the +"divinely ordained" headship of man; but my mind +never yielded to this popular heresy.</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_III"></a> +<h2><a name="Page_35"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> +<h2>GIRLHOOD.</h2> +<p>Mrs. Willard's Seminary at Troy was the fashionable +school in my girlhood, and in the winter of 1830, +with upward of a hundred other girls, I found myself +an active participant in all the joys and sorrows of that +institution. When in family council it was decided to +send me to that intellectual Mecca, I did not receive +the announcement with unmixed satisfaction, as I had +fixed my mind on Union College. The thought of a +school without boys, who had been to me such a stimulus +both in study and play, seemed to my imagination +dreary and profitless.</p> +<p>The one remarkable feature of my journey to Troy +was the railroad from Schenectady to Albany, the first +ever laid in this country. The manner of ascending a +high hill going out of the city would now strike engineers +as stupid to the last degree. The passenger cars +were pulled up by a train, loaded with stones, descending +the hill. The more rational way of tunneling through +the hill or going around it had not yet dawned on our +Dutch ancestors. At every step of my journey to Troy +I felt that I was treading on my pride, and thus in a +hopeless frame of mind I began my boarding-school +career. I had already studied everything that was +taught there except French, music, and dancing, so I +devoted myself to these accomplishments. As I had +<a name="Page_36"></a>a good voice I enjoyed singing, with a guitar +accompaniment, +and, having a good ear for time, I appreciated +the harmony in music and motion and took great delight +in dancing. The large house, the society of so +many girls, the walks about the city, the novelty of +everything made the new life more enjoyable than I had +anticipated. To be sure I missed the boys, with whom +I had grown up, played with for years, and later measured +my intellectual powers with, but, as they became +a novelty, there was new zest in occasionally seeing +them. After I had been there a short time, I heard a +call one day: "Heads out!" I ran with the rest and +exclaimed, "What is it?" expecting to see a giraffe or +some other wonder from Barnum's Museum. "Why, +don't you see those boys?" said one. "Oh," I replied, +"is that all? I have seen boys all my life." When +visiting family friends in the city, we were in the way +of making the acquaintance of their sons, and as all +social relations were strictly forbidden, there was a new +interest in seeing them. As they were not allowed to +call upon us or write notes, unless they were brothers +or cousins, we had, in time, a large number of kinsmen.</p> +<p>There was an intense interest to me now in writing +notes, receiving calls, and joining the young men in the +streets for a walk, such as I had never known when in +constant association with them at school and in our +daily amusements. Shut up with girls, most of them +older than myself, I heard many subjects discussed of +which I had never thought before, and in a manner it +were better I had never heard. The healthful restraint +always existing between boys and girls in conversation +is apt to be relaxed with either sex alone. In all my +intimate association with boys up to that period, I can<a name="Page_37"></a>not +recall one word or act for criticism, but I cannot say +the same of the girls during the three years I passed at +the seminary in Troy. My own experience proves to +me that it is a grave mistake to send boys and girls to +separate institutions of learning, especially at the most +impressible age. The stimulus of sex promotes alike +a healthy condition of the intellectual and the moral +faculties and gives to both a development they never +can acquire alone.</p> +<p>Mrs. Willard, having spent several months in Europe, +did not return until I had been at the seminary some +time. I well remember her arrival, and the joy with +which she was greeted by the teachers and pupils who +had known her before. She was a splendid-looking +woman, then in her prime, and fully realized my idea of +a queen. I doubt whether any royal personage in the +Old World could have received her worshipers with +more grace and dignity than did this far-famed daughter +of the Republic. She was one of the remarkable women +of that period, and did a great educational work for +her sex. She gave free scholarships to a large number +of promising girls, fitting them for teachers, with a proviso +that, when the opportunity arose, they should, in +turn, educate others.</p> +<p>I shall never forget one incident that occasioned me +much unhappiness. I had written a very amusing composition, +describing my room. A friend came in to see +me just as I had finished it, and, as she asked me to read +it to her, I did so. She enjoyed it very much and proposed +an exchange. She said the rooms were all so +nearly alike that, with a little alteration, she could use +it. Being very susceptible to flattery, her praise of my +production won a ready assent; but when I read her +<a name="Page_38"></a>platitudes I was sorry I had changed, and still +more so +in the <i>denouement</i>.</p> +<p>Those selected to prepare compositions read them before +the whole school. My friend's was received with +great laughter and applause. The one I read not only +fell flat, but nearly prostrated me also. As soon as I had +finished, one of the young ladies left the room and, returning +in a few moments with her composition book, +laid it before the teacher who presided that day, showing +her the same composition I had just read. I was called +up at once to explain, but was so amazed and confounded +that I could not speak, and I looked the +personification of guilt. I saw at a glance the contemptible +position I occupied and felt as if the last day +had come, that I stood before the judgment seat and +had heard the awful sentence pronounced, "Depart ye +wicked into everlasting punishment." How I escaped +from that scene to my own room I do not know. I +was too wretched for tears. I sat alone for a long time +when a gentle tap announced my betrayer. She put +her arms around me affectionately and kissed me again +and again.</p> +<p>"Oh!" she said, "you are a hero. You went +through that trying ordeal like a soldier. I was so +afraid, when you were pressed with questions, that the +whole truth would come out and I be forced to stand +in your place. I am not so brave as you; I could not +endure it. Now that you are through it and know how +bitter a trial it is, promise that you will save me +from the same experience. You are so good and noble +I know you will not betray me."</p> +<p>In this supreme moment of misery and disgrace, her +loving words and warm embrace were like balm to my +<a name="Page_39"></a>bruised soul and I readily promised all she +asked. The +girl had penetrated the weak point in my character. I +loved flattery. Through that means she got my composition +in the first place, pledged me to silence in the +second place, and so confused my moral perceptions +that I really thought it praiseworthy to shelter her from +what I had suffered. However, without betrayal on my +part, the trick came to light through the very means +she took to make concealment sure. After compositions +were read they were handed over to a certain +teacher for criticism. Miss —— had copied mine, and +returned to me the original. I had not copied hers, so +the two were in the same handwriting—one with my +name outside and one with Miss ——'s.</p> +<p>As I stood well in school, both for scholarship and behavior, +my sudden fall from grace occasioned no end of +discussion. So, as soon as the teacher discovered the +two compositions in Miss ——'s writing, she came to +me to inquire how I got one of Miss ——'s compositions. +She said, "Where is yours that you wrote for +that day?"</p> +<p>Taking it from my portfolio, I replied, "Here it is."</p> +<p>She then asked, "Did you copy it from her book?"</p> +<p>I replied, "No; I wrote it myself."</p> +<p>"Then why did you not read your own?"</p> +<p>"We agreed to change," said I.</p> +<p>"Did you know that Miss —— had copied that from +the book of another young lady?"</p> +<p>"No, not until I was accused of doing it myself before +the whole school."</p> +<p>"Why did you not defend yourself on the spot?"</p> +<p>"I could not speak, neither did I know what to +say."</p> +<p>"<a name="Page_40"></a>Why have you allowed yourself to remain in +such +a false position for a whole week?"</p> +<p>"I do not know."</p> +<p>"Suppose I had not found this out, did you intend +to keep silent?"</p> +<p>"Yes," I replied.</p> +<p>"Did Miss —— ask you to do so?"</p> +<p>"Yes."</p> +<p>I had been a great favorite with this teacher, but she +was so disgusted with my stupidity, as she called my +timidity, that she said:</p> +<p>"Really, my child, you have not acted in this matter +as if you had ordinary common sense."</p> +<p>So little do grown people, in familiar surroundings, +appreciate the confusion of a child's faculties, under new +and trying experiences. When poor Miss ——'s turn +came to stand up before the whole school and take the +burden on her own shoulders she had so cunningly laid +on mine, I readily shed the tears for her I could not +summon for myself. This was my first sad lesson in +human duplicity.</p> +<p>This episode, unfortunately, destroyed in a measure +my confidence in my companions and made me suspicious +even of those who came to me with appreciative +words. Up to this time I had accepted all things as +they seemed on the surface. Now I began to wonder +what lay behind the visible conditions about me. Perhaps +the experience was beneficial, as it is quite necessary +for a young girl, thrown wholly on herself for the +first time among strangers, to learn caution in all she +says and does. The atmosphere of home life, where all +disguises and pretensions are thrown off, is quite different +from a large school of girls, with the petty jealousies +<a name="Page_41"></a>and antagonisms that arise in daily competition +in their +dress, studies, accomplishments, and amusements.</p> +<p>The next happening in Troy that seriously influenced +my character was the advent of the Rev. Charles G. +Finney, a pulpit orator, who, as a terrifier of human +souls, proved himself the equal of Savonarola. He held +a protracted meeting in the Rev. Dr. Beaman's church, +which many of my schoolmates attended. The result +of six weeks of untiring effort on the part of Mr. Finney +and his confreres was one of those intense revival seasons +that swept over the city and through the seminary +like an epidemic, attacking in its worst form the most +susceptible. Owing to my gloomy Calvinistic training +in the old Scotch Presbyterian church, and my vivid +imagination, I was one of the first victims. We attended +all the public services, beside the daily prayer +and experience meetings held in the seminary. Our +studies, for the time, held a subordinate place to the +more important duty of saving our souls.</p> +<p>To state the idea of conversion and salvation as then +understood, one can readily see from our present standpoint +that nothing could be more puzzling and harrowing +to the young mind. The revival fairly started, the +most excitable were soon on the anxious seat. There +we learned the total depravity of human nature and the +sinner's awful danger of everlasting punishment. This +was enlarged upon until the most innocent girl believed +herself a monster of iniquity and felt certain of eternal +damnation. Then God's hatred of sin was emphasized +and his irreconcilable position toward the sinner so +justified that one felt like a miserable, helpless, forsaken +worm of the dust in trying to approach him, even in +prayer.</p> +<p><a name="Page_42"></a>Having brought you into a condition of +profound +humility, the only cardinal virtue for one under conviction, +in the depths of your despair you were told +that it required no herculean effort on your part to be +transformed into an angel, to be reconciled to God, to +escape endless perdition. The way to salvation was +short and simple. We had naught to do but to repent +and believe and give our hearts to Jesus, who was +ever ready to receive them. How to do all this was the +puzzling question. Talking with Dr. Finney one day, +I said:</p> +<p>"I cannot understand what I am to do. If you +should tell me to go to the top of the church steeple +and jump off, I would readily do it, if thereby I could +save my soul; but I do not know how to go to Jesus."</p> +<p>"Repent and believe," said he, "that is all you have +to do to be happy here and hereafter."</p> +<p>"I am very sorry," I replied, "for all the evil I have +done, and I believe all you tell me, and the more sincerely +I believe, the more unhappy I am."</p> +<p>With the natural reaction from despair to hope many +of us imagined ourselves converted, prayed and gave +our experiences in the meetings, and at times rejoiced +in the thought that we were Christians—chosen children +of God—rather than sinners and outcasts.</p> +<p>But Dr. Finney's terrible anathemas on the depravity +and deceitfulness of the human heart soon shortened +our newborn hopes. His appearance in the pulpit on +these memorable occasions is indelibly impressed on my +mind. I can see him now, his great eyes rolling around +the congregation and his arms flying about in the air +like those of a windmill. One evening he described +hell and the devil and the long procession of sinners +<a name="Page_43"></a>being swept down the rapids, about to make the +awful +plunge into the burning depths of liquid fire below, +and the rejoicing hosts in the inferno coming up to meet +them with the shouts of the devils echoing through the +vaulted arches. He suddenly halted, and, pointing his +index finger at the supposed procession, he exclaimed:</p> +<p>"There, do you not see them!"</p> +<p>I was wrought up to such a pitch that I actually +jumped up and gazed in the direction to which he +pointed, while the picture glowed before my eyes and +remained with me for months afterward. I cannot forbear +saying that, although high respect is due to the +intellectual, moral, and spiritual gifts of the venerable +ex-president of Oberlin College, such preaching worked +incalculable harm to the very souls he sought to save. +Fear of the judgment seized my soul. Visions of the +lost haunted my dreams. Mental anguish prostrated +my health. Dethronement of my reason was apprehended +by friends. But he was sincere, so peace to +his ashes! Returning home, I often at night roused +my father from his slumbers to pray for me, lest I should +be cast into the bottomless pit before morning.</p> +<p>To change the current of my thoughts, a trip was +planned to Niagara, and it was decided that the subject +of religion was to be tabooed altogether. Accordingly +our party, consisting of my sister, her husband, +my father and myself, started in our private carriage, +and for six weeks I heard nothing on the subject. +About this time Gall and Spurzheim published their +works on phrenology, followed by Combe's "Constitution +of Man," his "Moral Philosophy," and many other +liberal works, all so rational and opposed to the old theologies +that they produced a profound impression on +<a name="Page_44"></a>my brother-in-law's mind. As we had these books +with +us, reading and discussing by the way, we all became +deeply interested in the new ideas. Thus, after many +months of weary wandering in the intellectual labyrinth +of "The Fall of Man," "Original Sin," "Total Depravity," +"God's Wrath," "Satan's Triumph," "The +Crucifixion," "The Atonement," and "Salvation by +Faith," I found my way out of the darkness into the +clear sunlight of Truth. My religious superstitions +gave place to rational ideas based on scientific facts, and +in proportion, as I looked at everything from a new +standpoint, I grew more and more happy, day by day. +Thus, with a delightful journey in the month of June, +an entire change in my course of reading and the current +of my thoughts, my mind was restored to its normal +condition. I view it as one of the greatest crimes +to shadow the minds of the young with these gloomy +superstitions; and with fears of the unknown and the +unknowable to poison all their joy in life.</p> +<p>After the restraints of childhood at home and in +school, what a period of irrepressible joy and freedom +comes to us in girlhood with the first taste of liberty. +Then is our individuality in a measure recognized and +our feelings and opinions consulted; then we decide +where and when we will come and go, what we will eat, +drink, wear, and do. To suit one's own fancy in clothes, +to buy what one likes, and wear what one chooses is a +great privilege to most young people. To go out at +pleasure, to walk, to ride, to drive, with no one to say +us nay or question our right to liberty, this is indeed +like a birth into a new world of happiness and freedom. +This is the period, too, when the emotions rule us, and +we idealize everything in life; when love and hope make +<a name="Page_45"></a>the present an ecstasy and the future bright with +anticipation.</p> +<p>Then comes that dream of bliss that for weeks and +months throws a halo of glory round the most ordinary +characters in every-day life, holding the strongest and +most common-sense young men and women in a thraldom +from which few mortals escape. The period when +love, in soft silver tones, whispers his first words of +adoration, painting our graces and virtues day by day +in living colors in poetry and prose, stealthily punctuated +ever and anon with a kiss or fond embrace. What +dignity it adds to a young girl's estimate of herself when +some strong man makes her feel that in her hands rest +his future peace and happiness! Though these seasons +of intoxication may come once to all, yet they are seldom +repeated. How often in after life we long for one +more such rapturous dream of bliss, one more season +of supreme human love and passion!</p> +<p>After leaving school, until my marriage, I had the +most pleasant years of my girlhood. With frequent +visits to a large circle of friends and relatives in various +towns and cities, the monotony of home life was sufficiently +broken to make our simple country pleasures +always delightful and enjoyable. An entirely new life +now opened to me. The old bondage of fear of the +visible and the invisible was broken and, no longer subject +to absolute authority, I rejoiced in the dawn of a +new day of freedom in thought and action.</p> +<p>My brother-in-law, Edward Bayard, ten years my +senior, was an inestimable blessing to me at this time, +especially as my mind was just then opening to the consideration +of all the varied problems of life. To me and +my sisters he was a companion in all our amusements, +<a name="Page_46"></a>a teacher in the higher departments of knowledge, +and +a counselor in all our youthful trials and disappointments. +He was of a metaphysical turn of mind, and in +the pursuit of truth was in no way trammeled by popular +superstitions. He took nothing for granted and, like +Socrates, went about asking questions. Nothing +pleased him more than to get a bevy of bright young +girls about him and teach them how to think clearly and +reason logically.</p> +<p>One great advantage of the years my sisters and myself +spent at the Troy Seminary was the large number +of pleasant acquaintances we made there, many of which +ripened into lifelong friendships. From time to time +many of our classmates visited us, and all alike enjoyed +the intellectual fencing in which my brother-in-law +drilled them. He discoursed with us on law, philosophy, +political economy, history, and poetry, and together +we read novels without number. The long +winter evenings thus passed pleasantly, Mr. Bayard +alternately talking and reading aloud Scott, Bulwer, +James, Cooper, and Dickens, whose works were just +then coming out in numbers from week to week, always +leaving us in suspense at the most critical point of the +story. Our readings were varied with recitations, +music, dancing, and games.</p> +<p>As we all enjoyed brisk exercise, even with the thermometer +below zero, we took long walks and sleighrides +during the day, and thus the winter months glided +quickly by, while the glorious summer on those blue +hills was a period of unmixed enjoyment. At this season +we arose at five in the morning for a long ride on +horseback through the beautiful Mohawk Valley and +over the surrounding hills. Every road and lane in that +<a name="Page_47"></a>region was as familiar to us and our ponies, as +were +the trees to the squirrels we frightened as we cantered +by their favorite resorts.</p> +<p>Part of the time Margaret Christie, a young girl of +Scotch descent, was a member of our family circle. She +taught us French, music, and dancing. Our days were +too short for all we had to do, for our time was not +wholly given to pleasure. We were required to keep +our rooms in order, mend and make our clothes, +and do our own ironing. The latter was one of my +mother's politic requirements, to make our laundry lists +as short as possible.</p> +<p>Ironing on hot days in summer was a sore trial to +all of us; but Miss Christie, being of an inventive turn +of mind, soon taught us a short way out of it. She +folded and smoothed her undergarments with her hands +and then sat on them for a specified time. We all followed +her example and thus utilized the hours devoted +to our French lessons and, while reading "Corinne" +and "Télémaque," in this primitive style we ironed our +clothes. But for dresses, collars and cuffs, and pocket +handkerchiefs, we were compelled to wield the hot iron, +hence with these articles we used all due economy, and +my mother's object was thus accomplished.</p> +<p>As I had become sufficiently philosophical to talk over +my religious experiences calmly with my classmates who +had been with me through the Finney revival meetings, +we all came to the same conclusion—that we had passed +through no remarkable change and that we had not +been born again, as they say, for we found our tastes and +enjoyments the same as ever. My brother-in-law explained +to us the nature of the delusion we had all +experienced, the physical conditions, the mental proc<a name="Page_48"></a>esses, +the church machinery by which such excitements +are worked up, and the impositions to which credulous +minds are necessarily subjected. As we had all been +through that period of depression and humiliation, and +had been oppressed at times with the feeling that all +our professions were arrant hypocrisy and that our last +state was worse than our first, he helped us to understand +these workings of the human mind and reconciled +us to the more rational condition in which we now +found ourselves. He never grew weary of expounding +principles to us and dissipating the fogs and mists that +gather over young minds educated in an atmosphere of +superstition.</p> +<p>We had a constant source of amusement and vexation +in the students in my father's office. A succession +of them was always coming fresh from college +and full of conceit. Aching to try their powers of debate +on graduates from the Troy Seminary, they +politely questioned all our theories and assertions. +However, with my brother-in-law's training in analysis +and logic, we were a match for any of them. Nothing +pleased me better than a long argument with them on +woman's equality, which I tried to prove by a diligent +study of the books they read and the games they played. +I confess that I did not study so much for a love of the +truth or my own development, in these days, as to make +those young men recognize my equality. I soon +noticed that, after losing a few games of chess, my +opponent talked less of masculine superiority. Sister +Madge would occasionally rush to the defense with an +emphatic "Fudge for these laws, all made by men! I'll +never obey one of them. And as to the students with +their impertinent talk of superiority, all they need is +<a name="Page_49"></a>such a shaking up as I gave the most disagreeable +one +yesterday. I invited him to take a ride on horseback. +He accepted promptly, and said he would be most +happy to go. Accordingly I told Peter to saddle the +toughest-mouthed, hardest-trotting carriage horse in +the stable. Mounted on my swift pony, I took a ten-mile +canter as fast as I could go, with that superior +being at my heels calling, as he found breath, for me to +stop, which I did at last and left him in the hands of +Peter, half dead at his hotel, where he will be laid out, +with all his marvelous masculine virtues, for a week at +least. Now do not waste your arguments on these prigs +from Union College. Take each, in turn, the ten-miles' +circuit on 'Old Boney' and they'll have no breath left +to prate of woman's inferiority. You might argue +with them all day, and you could not make them feel +so small as I made that popinjay feel in one hour. I +knew 'Old Boney' would keep up with me, if he died +for it, and that my escort could neither stop nor dismount, +except by throwing himself from the saddle."</p> +<p>"Oh, Madge!" I exclaimed; "what will you say when +he meets you again?"</p> +<p>"If he complains, I will say 'the next time you ride +see that you have a curb bit before starting.' Surely, +a man ought to know what is necessary to manage a +horse, and not expect a woman to tell him."</p> +<p>Our lives were still further varied and intensified by +the usual number of flirtations, so called, more or less +lasting or evanescent, from all of which I emerged, as +from my religious experiences, in a more rational frame +of mind. We had been too much in the society of boys +and young gentlemen, and knew too well their real character, +to idealize the sex in general. In addition to our +<a name="Page_50"></a>own observations, we had the advantage of our +brother-in-law's +wisdom. Wishing to save us as long as possible +from all matrimonial entanglements, he was continually +unveiling those with whom he associated, and so critically +portraying their intellectual and moral condition +that it was quite impossible, in our most worshipful +moods, to make gods of any of the sons of Adam.</p> +<p>However, in spite of all our own experiences and of +all the warning words of wisdom from those who had +seen life in its many phases, we entered the charmed +circle at last, all but one marrying into the legal profession, +with its odious statute laws and infamous decisions. +And this, after reading Blackstone, Kent, and +Story, and thoroughly understanding the status of the +wife under the old common law of England, which was +in force at that time in most of the States of the Union.</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_IV"></a> +<h2><a name="Page_51"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> +<h2>LIFE AT PETERBORO.</h2> +<p>The year, with us, was never considered complete +without a visit to Peterboro, N.Y., the home of Gerrit +Smith. Though he was a reformer and was very radical +in many of his ideas, yet, being a man of broad sympathies, +culture, wealth, and position, he drew around him +many friends of the most conservative opinions. He +was a man of fine presence, rare physical beauty, most +affable and courteous in manner, and his hospitalities +were generous to an extreme, and dispensed to all +classes of society.</p> +<p>Every year representatives from the Oneida tribe of +Indians visited him. His father had early purchased of +them large tracts of land, and there was a tradition +among them that, as an equivalent for the good bargains +of the father, they had a right to the son's hospitality, +with annual gifts of clothing and provisions. +The slaves, too, had heard of Gerrit Smith, the abolitionist, +and of Peterboro as one of the safe points <i>en +route</i> for Canada. His mansion was, in fact, one of the +stations on the "underground railroad" for slaves +escaping from bondage. Hence they, too, felt that +they had a right to a place under his protecting roof. +On such occasions the barn and the kitchen floor were +utilized as chambers for the black man from the southern +plantation and the red man from his home in the +forest.</p> +<p><a name="Page_52"></a>The spacious home was always enlivened with +choice +society from every part of the country. There one +would meet members of the families of the old Dutch +aristocracy, the Van Rensselaers, the Van Vechtens, +the Schuylers, the Livingstons, the Bleeckers, the +Brinkerhoffs, the Ten Eycks, the Millers, the Seymours, +the Cochranes, the Biddles, the Barclays, the Wendells, +and many others.</p> +<p>As the lady of the house, Ann Carroll Fitzhugh, was +the daughter of a wealthy slaveholder of Maryland, +many agreeable Southerners were often among the +guests. Our immediate family relatives were well represented +by General John Cochrane and his sisters, +General Baird and his wife from West Point, the Fitzhughs +from Oswego and Geneseo, the Backuses and +Tallmans from Rochester, and the Swifts from Geneva. +Here one was sure to meet scholars, philosophers, philanthropists, +judges, bishops, clergymen, and statesmen.</p> +<p>Judge Alfred Conkling, the father of Roscoe Conkling, +was, in his late years, frequently seen at Peterboro. +Tall and stately, after all life's troubled scenes, financial +losses and domestic sorrows, he used to say there was no +spot on earth that seemed so like his idea of Paradise. +The proud, reserved judge was unaccustomed to manifestations +of affection and tender interest in his behalf, +and when Gerrit, taking him by both hands would, in +his softest tones say, "Good-morning," and inquire how +he had slept and what he would like to do that day, and +Nancy would greet him with equal warmth and pin a +little bunch of roses in his buttonhole, I have seen the +tears in his eyes. Their warm sympathies and sweet simplicity +of manner melted the sternest natures and made +the most reserved amiable. There never was such an +<a name="Page_53"></a>atmosphere of love and peace, of freedom and good +cheer, in any other home I visited. And this was the +universal testimony of those who were guests at Peterboro. +To go anywhere else, after a visit there, was +like coming down from the divine heights into the valley +of humiliation.</p> +<p>How changed from the early days when, as strict +Presbyterians, they believed in all the doctrines of Calvin! +Then, an indefinite gloom pervaded their home. +Their consciences were diseased. They attached such +undue importance to forms that they went through +three kinds of baptism. At one time Nancy would read +nothing but the Bible, sing nothing but hymns, and play +only sacred music. She felt guilty if she talked on any +subject except religion. She was, in all respects, a +fitting mate for her attractive husband. Exquisitely refined +in feeling and manner, beautiful in face and form, +earnest and sincere, she sympathized with him in all +his ideas of religion and reform. Together they passed +through every stage of theological experience, from the +uncertain ground of superstition and speculation to the +solid foundation of science and reason. The position +of the Church in the anti-slavery conflict, opening as it +did all questions of ecclesiastical authority, Bible interpretation, +and church discipline, awakened them to +new thought and broader views on religious subjects, +and eventually emancipated them entirely from the old +dogmas and formalities of their faith, and lifted them +into the cheerful atmosphere in which they passed the +remainder of their lives. Their only daughter, Elizabeth, +added greatly to the attractions of the home circle, as +she drew many young people round her. Beside her +personal charm she was the heiress of a vast estate and +<a name="Page_54"></a>had many admirers. The favored one was Charles +Dudley Miller of Utica, nephew of Mrs. Blandina +Bleecker Dudley, founder of the Albany Observatory. +At the close of his college life Mr. Miller had not only +mastered the languages, mathematics, rhetoric, and +logic, but had learned the secret windings of the human +heart. He understood the art of pleasing.</p> +<p>These were the times when the anti-slavery question +was up for hot discussion. In all the neighboring +towns conventions were held in which James G. +Birney, a Southern gentleman who had emancipated his +slaves, Charles Stuart of Scotland, and George Thompson +of England, Garrison, Phillips, May, Beriah Greene, +Foster, Abby Kelly, Lucretia Mott, Douglass, and +others took part. Here, too, John Brown, Sanborn, +Morton, and Frederick Douglass met to talk over that +fatal movement on Harper's Ferry. On the question +of temperance, also, the people were in a ferment. Dr. +Cheever's pamphlet, "Deacon Giles' Distillery," was +scattered far and wide, and, as he was sued for libel, the +question was discussed in the courts as well as at every +fireside. Then came the Father Matthew and Washingtonian +movements, and the position of the Church +on these questions intensified and embittered the conflict. +This brought the Cheevers, the Pierponts, the +Delevans, the Nortons, and their charming wives to +Peterboro. It was with such company and varied discussions +on every possible phase of political, religious, +and social life that I spent weeks every year. Gerrit +Smith was cool and calm in debate, and, as he was +armed at all points on these subjects, he could afford +to be patient and fair with an opponent, whether on +the platform or at the fireside. These rousing argu<a name="Page_55"></a>ments +at Peterboro made social life seem tame and +profitless elsewhere, and the youngest of us felt that +the conclusions reached in this school of philosophy +were not to be questioned. The sisters of General +Cochrane, in disputes with their Dutch cousins in +Schenectady and Albany, would end all controversy by +saying, "This question was fully discussed at Peterboro, +and settled."</p> +<p>The youngsters frequently put the lessons of freedom +and individual rights they heard so much of into practice, +and relieved their brains from the constant strain of +argument on first principles, by the wildest hilarity in +dancing, all kinds of games, and practical jokes carried +beyond all bounds of propriety. These romps generally +took place at Mr. Miller's. He used to say facetiously, +that they talked a good deal about liberty over the way, +but he kept the goddess under his roof. One memorable +occasion in which our enthusiasm was kept +at white heat for two hours I must try to describe, +though words cannot do it justice, as it was pre-eminently +a spectacular performance. The imagination +even cannot do justice to the limp, woe-begone appearance +of the actors in the closing scene. These romps +were conducted on a purely democratic basis, without +regard to color, sex, or previous condition of servitude.</p> +<p>It was rather a cold day in the month of March, when +"Cousin Charley," as we called Mr. Miller, was superintending +some men who were laying a plank walk in the +rear of his premises. Some half dozen of us were invited +to an early tea at good Deacon Huntington's. +Immediately after dinner, Miss Fitzhugh and Miss Van +Schaack decided to take a nap, that they might appear +as brilliant as possible during the evening. That they +<a name="Page_56"></a>might not be late, as they invariably were, +Cousin Lizzie +and I decided to rouse them in good season with a +generous sprinkling of cold water. In vain they struggled +to keep the blankets around them; with equal force +we pulled them away, and, whenever a stray finger or +toe appeared, we brought fresh batteries to bear, until +they saw that passive resistance must give place to active +hostility. We were armed with two watering pots. +They armed themselves with two large-sized syringes +used for showering potato bugs. With these weapons +they gave us chase downstairs. We ran into a closet +and held the door shut. They quietly waited our forthcoming. +As soon as we opened the door to peep out, +Miss Fitzhugh, who was large and strong, pulled it +wide open and showered us with a vengeance. Then +they fled into a large pantry where stood several pans +of milk.</p> +<p>At this stage Cousin Charley, hearing the rumpus, +came to our assistance. He locked them in the pantry +and returned to his work, whereupon they opened the +window and showered him with milk, while he, in turn, +pelted them with wet clothes, soaking in tubs near by. +As they were thinly clad, wet to the skin, and the cold +March wind blew round them (we were all in fatigue +costume in starting) they implored us to let them out, +which we did, and, in return for our kindness, they gave +us a broadside of milk in our faces. Cousin Lizzie and +I fled to the dark closet, where they locked us in. +After long, weary waiting they came to offer us terms of +capitulation. Lizzie agreed to fill their guns with milk, +and give them our watering pots full of water, and I +agreed to call Cousin Charley under my window until +they emptied the contents of guns and pots on his +<a name="Page_57"></a>head. My room was on the first floor, and Miss +Fitzhugh's +immediately overhead. On these terms we accepted +our freedom. Accordingly, I gently raised the +window and called Charley confidentially within whispering +distance, when down came a shower of water. As +he stepped back to look up and see whence it came, and +who made the attack, a stream of milk hit him on the +forehead, his heels struck a plank, and he fell backward, +to all appearance knocked down with a stream of milk. +His humiliation was received with shouts of derisive +laughter, and even the carpenters at work laid down +their hammers and joined in the chorus; but his revenge +was swift and capped the climax. Cold and wet +as we all were, and completely tired out, we commenced +to disrobe and get ready for the tea party. Unfortunately +I had forgotten to lock my door, and in walked +Cousin Charley with a quart bottle of liquid blacking, +which he prepared to empty on my devoted head. I +begged so eloquently and trembled so at the idea of being +dyed black, that he said he would let me off on one +condition, and that was to get him, by some means, +into Miss Fitzhugh's room. So I ran screaming up the +stairs, as if hotly pursued by the enemy, and begged her +to let me in. She cautiously opened the door, but when +she saw Charley behind me she tried to force it shut. +However, he was too quick for her. He had one leg +and arm in; but, at that stage of her toilet, to let him +in was impossible, and there they stood, equally strong, +firmly braced, she on one side of the door and he on the +other. But the blacking he was determined she should +have; so, gauging her probable position, with one desperate +effort he squeezed in a little farther and, raising +the bottle, he poured the contents on her head. The +<a name="Page_58"></a>blacking went streaming down over her face, white +robe, and person, and left her looking more like a +bronze fury than one of Eve's most charming daughters. +A yard or more of the carpet was ruined, the +wallpaper and bedclothes spattered, and the poor victim +was unfit to be seen for a week at least. Charley +had a good excuse for his extreme measures, for, as we +all by turn played our tricks on him, it was necessary to +keep us in some fear of punishment. This was but one +of the many outrageous pranks we perpetrated on each +other. To see us a few hours later, all absorbed in an +anti-slavery or temperance convention, or dressed in +our best, in high discourse with the philosophers, one +would never think we could have been guilty of such +consummate follies. It was, however, but the natural +reaction from the general serious trend of our thoughts.</p> +<p>It was in Peterboro, too, that I first met one who was +then considered the most eloquent and impassioned +orator on the anti-slavery platform, Henry B. Stanton. +He had come over from Utica with Alvin Stewart's +beautiful daughter, to whom report said he was engaged; +but, as she soon after married Luther R. Marsh, +there was a mistake somewhere. However, the rumor +had its advantages. Regarding him as not in the +matrimonial market, we were all much more free and +easy in our manners with him than we would otherwise +have been. A series of anti-slavery conventions was +being held in Madison County, and there I had the +pleasure of hearing him for the first time. As I had +a passion for oratory, I was deeply impressed with his +power. He was not so smooth and eloquent as +Phillips, but he could make his audience both laugh and +cry; the latter, Phillips himself said he never could do. +<a name="Page_59"></a>Mr. Stanton was then in his prime, a +fine-looking, +affable young man, with remarkable conversational +talent, and was ten years my senior, with the advantage +that number of years necessarily gives.</p> +<p>Two carriage-loads of ladies and gentlemen drove +off every morning, sometimes ten miles, to one of these +conventions, returning late at night. I shall never forget +those charming drives over the hills in Madison +County, the bright autumnal days, and the bewitching +moonlight nights. The enthusiasm of the people in +these great meetings, the thrilling oratory, and lucid +arguments of the speakers, all conspired to make these +days memorable as among the most charming in my +life. It seemed to me that I never had so much happiness +crowded into one short month. I had become +interested in the anti-slavery and temperance questions, +and was deeply impressed with the appeals and arguments. +I felt a new inspiration in life and was enthused +with new ideas of individual rights and the basic principles +of government, for the anti-slavery platform was +the best school the American people ever had on which +to learn republican principles and ethics. These conventions +and the discussions at my cousin's fireside I +count among the great blessings of my life.</p> +<p>One morning, as we came out from breakfast, Mr. +Stanton joined me on the piazza, where I was walking +up and down enjoying the balmy air and the beauty of +the foliage. "As we have no conventions," said he, +"on hand, what do you say to a ride on horseback this +morning?" I readily accepted the suggestion, ordered +the horses, put on my habit, and away we went. The +roads were fine and we took a long ride. As we were +returning home we stopped often to admire the +<a name="Page_60"></a>scenery and, perchance, each other. When walking +slowly through a beautiful grove, he laid his hand on +the horn of the saddle and, to my surprise, made one of +those charming revelations of human feeling which +brave knights have always found eloquent words to +utter, and to which fair ladies have always listened with +mingled emotions of pleasure and astonishment.</p> +<p>One outcome of those glorious days of October, +1839, was a marriage, in Johnstown, the 10th day of +May, 1840, and a voyage to the Old World.</p> +<p>Six weeks of that charming autumn, ending in the +Indian summer with its peculiarly hazy atmosphere, I +lingered in Peterboro. It seems in retrospect like +a beautiful dream. A succession of guests was constantly +coming and going, and I still remember the daily +drives over those grand old hills crowned with trees +now gorgeous in rich colors, the more charming because +we knew the time was short before the cold winds of +November would change all.</p> +<p>The early setting sun warned us that the shortening +days must soon end our twilight drives, and the moonlight +nights were too chilly to linger long in the rustic +arbors or shady nooks outside. With the peculiar +charm of this season of the year there is always a touch +of sadness in nature, and it seemed doubly so to me, as +my engagement was not one of unmixed joy and satisfaction. +Among all conservative families there was a +strong aversion to abolitionists and the whole anti-slavery +movement. Alone with Cousin Gerrit in his +library he warned me, in deep, solemn tones, while +strongly eulogizing my lover, that my father would +never consent to my marriage with an abolitionist. He +felt in duty bound, as my engagement had occurred +<a name="Page_61"></a>under his roof, to free himself from all +responsibility by +giving me a long dissertation on love, friendship, marriage, +and all the pitfalls for the unwary, who, without +due consideration, formed matrimonial relations. The +general principles laid down in this interview did not +strike my youthful mind so forcibly as the suggestion +that it was better to announce my engagement by letter +than to wait until I returned home, as thus I might +draw the hottest fire while still in safe harbor, where +Cousin Gerrit could help me defend the weak points in +my position. So I lingered at Peterboro to prolong +the dream of happiness and postpone the conflict I +feared to meet.</p> +<p>But the Judge understood the advantage of our position +as well as we did, and wasted no ammunition on +us. Being even more indignant at my cousin than at +me, he quietly waited until I returned home, when I +passed through the ordeal of another interview, with +another dissertation on domestic relations from a financial +standpoint. These were two of the most bewildering +interviews I ever had. They succeeded in making +me feel that the step I proposed to take was the most +momentous and far-reaching in its consequences of any +in this mortal life. Heretofore my apprehensions had +all been of death and eternity; now life itself was filled +with fears and anxiety as to the possibilities of the +future. Thus these two noble men, who would have +done anything for my happiness, actually overweighted +my conscience and turned the sweetest dream of my +life into a tragedy. How little strong men, with their +logic, sophistry, and hypothetical examples, appreciate +the violence they inflict on the tender sensibilities of a +woman's heart, in trying to subjugate her to their will! +<a name="Page_62"></a>The love of protecting too often degenerates into +downright tyranny. Fortunately all these sombre pictures +of a possible future were thrown into the background +by the tender missives every post brought me, +in which the brilliant word-painting of one of the most +eloquent pens of this generation made the future for +us both, as bright and beautiful as Spring with her verdure +and blossoms of promise.</p> +<p>However, many things were always transpiring at +Peterboro to turn one's thoughts and rouse new interest +in humanity at large. One day, as a bevy of us +girls were singing and chattering in the parlor, Cousin +Gerrit entered and, in mysterious tones, said: "I have +a most important secret to tell you, which you must +keep to yourselves religiously for twenty-four hours."</p> +<p>We readily pledged ourselves in the most solemn +manner, individually and collectively.</p> +<p>"Now," said he, "follow me to the third story."</p> +<p>This we did, wondering what the secret could be. +At last, opening a door, he ushered us into a large room, +in the center of which sat a beautiful quadroon girl, +about eighteen years of age. Addressing her, he said:</p> +<p>"Harriet, I have brought all my young cousins to +see you. I want you to make good abolitionists of +them by telling them the history of your life—what you +have seen and suffered in slavery."</p> +<p>Turning to us he said:</p> +<p>"Harriet has just escaped from her master, who is +visiting in Syracuse, and is on her way to Canada. +She will start this evening and you may never have another +opportunity of seeing a slave girl face to face, so +ask her all you care to know of the system of slavery."</p> +<p>For two hours we listened to the sad story of her +<a name="Page_63"></a>childhood and youth, separated from all her +family and +sold for her beauty in a New Orleans market when but +fourteen years of age. The details of her story I need +not repeat. The fate of such girls is too well known to +need rehearsal. We all wept together as she talked, +and, when Cousin Gerrit returned to summon us away, +we needed no further education to make us earnest +abolitionists.</p> +<p>Dressed as a Quakeress, Harriet started at twilight +with one of Mr. Smith's faithful clerks in a carriage for +Oswego, there to cross the lake to Canada. The next +day her master and the marshals from Syracuse were +on her track in Peterboro, and traced her to Mr. Smith's +premises. He was quite gracious in receiving them, +and, while assuring them that there was no slave there, +he said that they were at liberty to make a thorough +search of the house and grounds. He invited them to +stay and dine and kept them talking as long as possible, +as every hour helped Harriet to get beyond their +reach; for, although she had eighteen hours the start +of them, yet we feared some accident might have delayed +her. The master was evidently a gentleman, +for, on Mr. Smith's assurance that Harriet was not +there, he made no search, feeling that they could not +do so without appearing to doubt his word. He was +evidently surprised to find an abolitionist so courteous +and affable, and it was interesting to hear them in conversation, +at dinner, calmly discussing the problem of +slavery, while public sentiment was at white heat on +the question. They shook hands warmly at parting +and expressed an equal interest in the final adjustment +of that national difficulty.</p> +<p>In due time the clerk returned with the good news +<a name="Page_64"></a>that Harriet was safe with friends in a good +situation in +Canada. Mr. Smith then published an open letter to +the master in the New York <i>Tribune</i>, saying "that he +would no doubt rejoice to know that his slave Harriet, +in whose fate he felt so deep an interest, was now a free +woman, safe under the shadow of the British throne. I +had the honor of entertaining her under my roof, sending +her in my carriage to Lake Ontario, just eighteen +hours before your arrival: hence my willingness to have +you search my premises."</p> +<p>Like the varied combinations of the kaleidoscope, the +scenes in our social life at Peterboro were continually +changing from grave to gay. Some years later we had +a most hilarious occasion at the marriage of Mary +Cochrane, sister of General John Cochrane, to Chapman +Biddle, of Philadelphia. The festivities, which +were kept up for three days, involved most elaborate +preparations for breakfasts, dinners, etc., there being +no Delmonico's in that remote part of the country. +It was decided in family council that we had sufficient +culinary talent under the roof to prepare the entire <i>menu</i> +of substantials and delicacies, from soup and salmon to +cakes and creams. So, gifted ladies and gentlemen +were impressed into the service. The Fitzhughs all +had a natural talent for cooking, and chief among them +was Isabella, wife of a naval officer,—Lieutenant Swift +of Geneva,—who had made a profound study of all +the authorities from Archestratus, a poet in Syracuse, +the most famous cook among the Greeks, down to our +own Miss Leslie. Accordingly she was elected manager +of the occasion, and to each one was assigned the +specialty in which she claimed to excel. Those who +had no specialty were assistants to those who had. In +<a name="Page_65"></a>this humble office—"assistant at large"—I labored +throughout.</p> +<p>Cooking is a high art. A wise Egyptian said, long +ago: "The degree of taste and skill manifested by a +nation in the preparation of food may be regarded as to +a very considerable extent proportioned to its culture +and refinement." In early times men, only, were +deemed capable of handling fire, whether at the altar +or the hearthstone. We read in the Scriptures that +Abraham prepared cakes of fine meal and a calf tender +and good, which, with butter and milk, he set before +the three angels in the plains of Mamre. We are told, +too, of the chief butler and chief baker as officers in the +household of King Pharaoh. I would like to call the +attention of my readers to the dignity of this profession, +which some young women affect to despise. The fact +that angels eat, shows that we may be called upon in the +next sphere to cook even for cherubim and seraphim. +How important, then, to cultivate one's gifts in that +direction!</p> +<p>With such facts before us, we stirred and pounded, +whipped and ground, coaxed the delicate meats from +crabs and lobsters and the succulent peas from the pods, +and grated corn and cocoanut with the same cheerfulness +and devotion that we played Mendelssohn's +"Songs Without Words" on the piano, the Spanish +Fandango on our guitars, or danced the minuet, polka, +lancers, or Virginia reel.</p> +<p>During the day of the wedding, every stage coach was +crowded with guests from the North, South, East, and +West, and, as the twilight deepened, carriages began +to roll in with neighbors and friends living at short distances, +until the house and grounds were full. A son +<a name="Page_66"></a>of Bishop Coxe, who married the tall and stately +sister +of Roscoe Conkling, performed the ceremony. The +beautiful young bride was given away by her Uncle Gerrit. +The congratulations, the feast, and all went off +with fitting decorum in the usual way. The best proof +of the excellence of our viands was that they were all +speedily swept from mortal view, and every housewife +wanted a recipe for something.</p> +<p>As the grand dinner was to come off the next day, +our thoughts now turned in that direction. The responsibility +rested heavily on the heads of the chief +actors, and they reported troubled dreams and unduly +early rising. Dear Belle Swift was up in season and her +white soup stood serenely in a tin pan, on an upper shelf, +before the town clock struck seven. If it had not taken +that position so early, it might have been incorporated +with higher forms of life than that into which it +eventually fell. Another artist was also on the wing +early, and in pursuit of a tin pan in which to hide her +precious compound, she unwittingly seized this one, +and the rich white soup rolled down her raven locks +like the oil on Aaron's beard, and enveloped her in a +veil of filmy whiteness. I heard the splash and the +exclamation of surprise and entered the butler's pantry +just in time to see the heiress of the Smith estate standing +like a statue, tin pan in hand, soup in her curls, her +eyebrows and eyelashes,—collar, cuffs, and morning +dress saturated,—and Belle, at a little distance, looking +at her and the soup on the floor with surprise and disgust +depicted on every feature. The tableau was inexpressibly +comical, and I could not help laughing +outright; whereupon Belle turned on me, and, with +indignant tones, said, "If you had been up since four +<a name="Page_67"></a>o'clock making that soup you would not stand +there like +a laughing monkey, without the least feeling of pity!" +Poor Lizzie was very sorry, and would have shed tears, +but they could not penetrate that film of soup. I tried +to apologize, but could only laugh the more when I +saw Belle crying and Lizzie standing as if hoping that +the soup might be scraped off her and gathered from +the floor and made to do duty on the occasion.</p> +<p>After breakfast, ladies and gentlemen, alike in white +aprons, crowded into the dining room and kitchen, each +to perform the allotted task. George Biddle of Philadelphia +and John B. Miller of Utica, in holiday spirits, +were irrepressible—everywhere at the same moment, +helping or hindering as the case might be. Dear Belle, +having only partially recovered from the white-soup +catastrophe, called Mr. Biddle to hold the ice-cream +freezer while she poured in the luscious compound she +had just prepared. He held it up without resting it on +anything, while Belle slowly poured in the cream. As +the freezer had no indentations round the top or rim +to brace the thumbs and fingers, when it grew suddenly +heavier his hands slipped and down went the whole +thing, spattering poor Belle and spoiling a beautiful +pair of gaiters in which, as she had very pretty feet, she +took a laudable pride. In another corner sat Wealthea +Backus, grating some cocoanut. While struggling in +that operation, John Miller, feeling hilarious, was annoying +her in divers ways; at length she drew the grater +across his nose, gently, as she intended, but alas! she +took the skin off, and John's beauty, for the remainder +of the festivities, was marred with a black patch on that +prominent feature. One can readily imagine the fun +that must have transpired where so many amateur +<a name="Page_68"></a>cooks were at work round one table, with all +manner +of culinary tools and ingredients.</p> +<p>As assistant-at-large I was summoned to the cellar, +where Mrs. Cornelia Barclay of New York was evolving +from a pan of flour and water that miracle in the +pie department called puff paste. This, it seems, can +only be accomplished where the thermometer is below +forty, and near a refrigerator where the compound can +be kept cold until ready to be popped into the oven. +No jokes or nonsense here. With queenly dignity the +flour and water were gently compressed. Here one +hand must not know what the other doeth. Bits of butter +must be so deftly introduced that even the rolling +pin may be unconscious of its work. As the artist gave +the last touch to an exquisite lemon pie, with a mingled +expression of pride and satisfaction on her classic features, +she ordered me to bear it to the oven. In the +transit I met Madam Belle. "Don't let that fall," she +said sneeringly. Fortunately I did not, and returned +in triumph to transport another. I was then summoned +to a consultation with the committee on toasts, +consisting of James Cochrane, John Miller, and myself. +Mr. Miller had one for each guest already written, all +of which we accepted and pronounced very good.</p> +<p>Strange to say, a most excellent dinner emerged from +all this uproar and confusion. The table, with its silver, +china, flowers, and rich viands, the guests in satins, +velvets, jewels, soft laces, and bright cravats, together +reflecting all the colors of the prism, looked as beautiful +as the rainbow after a thunderstorm.</p> +<p>Twenty years ago I made my last sad visit to that +spot so rich with pleasant memories of bygone days. +A few relatives and family friends gathered there to +<a name="Page_69"></a>pay the last tokens of respect to our noble +cousin. It +was on one of the coldest days of gray December that +we laid him in the frozen earth, to be seen no more. +He died from a stroke of apoplexy in New York city, +at the home of his niece, Mrs. Ellen Cochrane Walter, +whose mother was Mr. Smith's only sister. The journey +from New York to Peterboro was cold and dreary, +and climbing the hills from Canastota in an open sleigh, +nine hundred feet above the valley, with the thermometer +below zero, before sunrise, made all nature look as +sombre as the sad errand on which we came.</p> +<p>Outside the mansion everything in its wintry garb +was cold and still, and all within was silent as the grave. +The central figure, the light and joy of that home, had +vanished forever. He who had welcomed us on that +threshold for half a century would welcome us no +more. We did what we could to dissipate the gloom +that settled on us all. We did not intensify our grief +by darkening the house and covering ourselves with +black crape, but wore our accustomed dresses of chastened +colors and opened all the blinds that the glad +sunshine might stream in. We hung the apartment +where the casket stood with wreaths of evergreens, and +overhead we wove his favorite mottoes in living letters, +"Equal rights for all!" "Rescue Cuba now!" The +religious services were short and simple; the Unitarian +clergyman from Syracuse made a few remarks, +the children from the orphan asylum, in which he was +deeply interested, sang an appropriate hymn, and +around the grave stood representatives of the Biddles, +the Dixwells, the Sedgwicks, the Barclays, and Stantons, +and three generations of his immediate family. +With a few appropriate words from General John +<a name="Page_70"></a>Cochrane we left our beloved kinsman alone in his +last +resting place. Two months later, on his birthday, his +wife, Ann Carroll Fitzhugh, passed away and was laid +by his side. Theirs was a remarkably happy union of +over half a century, and they were soon reunited in the +life eternal.</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_V"></a> +<h2><a name="Page_71"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> +<h2>OUR WEDDING JOURNEY.</h2> +<p>My engagement was a season of doubt and conflict—doubt +as to the wisdom of changing a girlhood of +freedom and enjoyment for I knew not what, and conflict +because the step I proposed was in opposition to +the wishes of all my family. Whereas, heretofore, +friends were continually suggesting suitable matches for +me and painting the marriage relation in the most dazzling +colors, now that state was represented as beset +with dangers and disappointments, and men, of all God's +creatures as the most depraved and unreliable. Hard +pressed, I broke my engagement, after months of +anxiety and bewilderment; suddenly I decided to renew +it, as Mr. Stanton was going to Europe as a delegate to +the World's Anti-slavery Convention, and we did not +wish the ocean to roll between us.</p> +<p>Thursday, May 10, 1840, I determined to take the +fateful step, without the slightest preparation for a wedding +or a voyage; but Mr. Stanton, coming up the +North River, was detained on "Marcy's Overslaugh," +a bar in the river where boats were frequently stranded +for hours. This delay compelled us to be married on +Friday, which is commonly supposed to be a most unlucky +day. But as we lived together, without more +than the usual matrimonial friction, for nearly a half +a century, had seven children, all but one of whom are +still living, and have been well sheltered, clothed, and +<a name="Page_72"></a>fed, enjoying sound minds in sound bodies, no one +need +be afraid of going through the marriage ceremony on +Friday for fear of bad luck. The Scotch clergyman +who married us, being somewhat superstitious, begged +us to postpone it until Saturday; but, as we were to +sail early in the coming week, that was impossible. +That point settled, the next difficulty was to persuade +him to leave out the word "obey" in the marriage +ceremony. As I obstinately refused to obey one with +whom I supposed I was entering into an equal relation, +that point, too, was conceded. A few friends were +invited to be present and, in a simple white evening +dress, I was married. But the good priest avenged +himself for the points he conceded, by keeping us on +the rack with a long prayer and dissertation on the +sacred institution for one mortal hour. The Rev. +Hugh Maire was a little stout fellow, vehement in manner +and speech, who danced about the floor, as he laid +down the law, in the most original and comical manner. +As Mr. Stanton had never seen him before, the +hour to him was one of constant struggle to maintain +his equilibrium. I had sat under his ministrations for +several years, and was accustomed to his rhetoric, accent, +and gestures, and thus was able to go through +the ordeal in a calmer state of mind.</p> +<p>Sister Madge, who had stood by me bravely through +all my doubts and anxieties, went with us to New +York and saw us on board the vessel. My sister +Harriet and her husband, Daniel C. Eaton, a merchant +in New York city, were also there. He and I had had +for years a standing game of "tag" at all our partings, +and he had vowed to send me "tagged" to Europe. +I was equally determined that he should not. Accord<a name="Page_73"></a>ingly, +I had a desperate chase after him all over the +vessel, but in vain. He had the last "tag" and +escaped. As I was compelled, under the circumstances, +to conduct the pursuit with some degree of decorum, +and he had the advantage of height, long limbs, and +freedom from skirts, I really stood no chance whatever. +However, as the chase kept us all laughing, it helped to +soften the bitterness of parting.<br> +</p> +<table style="text-align: left; width: 100%;" border="0" cellspacing="2" + cellpadding="2"> + <tbody> + <tr> + <td style="vertical-align: top; width: 50%;"><a name="img004"></a><img + style="width: 400px; height: 659px;" alt="H.B. Stanton" + title="H.B. Stanton" src="image/004.jpg"><br> + </td> + <td style="vertical-align: top;"><a name="img005"></a><img + style="width: 400px; height: 642px;" + alt="MRS. STANTON AND DAUGHTER, 1857." + title="MRS. STANTON AND DAUGHTER, 1857." src="image/005.jpg"><br> + </td> + </tr> + </tbody> +</table> +<br> +<p>Fairly at sea, I closed another chapter of my life, and +my thoughts turned to what lay in the near future. +James G. Birney, the anti-slavery nominee for the +presidency of the United States, joined us in New York, +and was a fellow-passenger on the Montreal for England. +He and my husband were delegates to the World's +Anti-slavery Convention, and both interested themselves +in my anti-slavery education. They gave me +books to read, and, as we paced the deck day by day, the +question was the chief theme of our conversation.</p> +<p>Mr. Birney was a polished gentleman of the old +school, and was excessively proper and punctilious in +manner and conversation. I soon perceived that he +thought I needed considerable toning down before +reaching England. I was quick to see and understand +that his criticisms of others in a general way and the +drift of his discourses on manners and conversation had +a nearer application than he intended I should discover, +though he hoped I would profit by them. I was always +grateful to anyone who took an interest in my improvement, +so I laughingly told him, one day, that he +need not make his criticisms any longer in that roundabout +way, but might take me squarely in hand and +polish me up as speedily as possible. Sitting in the +saloon at night after a game of chess, in which, per<a name="Page_74"></a>chance, +I had been the victor, I felt complacent and +would sometimes say:</p> +<p>"Well, what have I said or done to-day open to +criticism?"</p> +<p>So, in the most gracious manner, he replied on one +occasion:</p> +<p>"You went to the masthead in a chair, which I think +very unladylike. I heard you call your husband +'Henry' in the presence of strangers, which is not permissible +in polite society. You should always say 'Mr. +Stanton.' You have taken three moves back in this +game."</p> +<p>"Bless me!" I replied, "what a catalogue in one +day! I fear my Mentor will despair of my ultimate +perfection."</p> +<p>"I should have more hope," he replied, "if you +seemed to feel my rebukes more deeply, but you evidently +think them of too little consequence to be much +disturbed by them."</p> +<p>As he found even more fault with my husband, we +condoled with each other and decided that our friend +was rather hypercritical and that we were as nearly perfect +as mortals need be for the wear and tear of ordinary +life. Being both endowed with a good degree of +self-esteem, neither the praise nor the blame of mankind +was overpowering to either of us. As the voyage +lasted eighteen days—for we were on a sailing vessel—we +had time to make some improvement, or, at least, +to consider all friendly suggestions.</p> +<p>At this time Mr. Birney was very much in love with +Miss Fitzhugh of Geneseo, to whom he was afterward +married. He suffered at times great depression of +spirits, but I could always rouse him to a sunny mood +<a name="Page_75"></a>by introducing her name. That was a theme of +which +he never grew weary, and, while praising her, a halo of +glory was to him visible around my head and I was +faultless for the time being. There was nothing in our +fellow-passengers to break the monotony of the voyage. +They were all stolid, middle-class English people, returning +from various parts of the world to visit their +native land.</p> +<p>When out of their hearing, Mr. Birney used to ridicule +them without mercy; so, one day, by way of making +a point, I said with great solemnity, "Is it good +breeding to make fun of the foibles of our fellow-men, +who have not had our advantages of culture and education?" +He felt the rebuke and blushed, and never +again returned to that subject. I am sorry to say I +was glad to find him once in fault.</p> +<p>Though some amusement, in whatever extraordinary +way I could obtain it, was necessary to my existence, +yet, as it was deemed important that I should thoroughly +understand the status of the anti-slavery movement +in my own country, I spent most of my time +reading and talking on that question. Being the wife +of a delegate to the World's Convention, we all felt it +important that I should be able to answer whatever +questions I might be asked in England on all phases of +the slavery question.</p> +<p>The captain, a jolly fellow, was always ready to second +me in my explorations into every nook and cranny +of the vessel. He imagined that my reading was distasteful +and enforced by the older gentlemen, so he was +continually planning some diversion, and often invited +me to sit with him and listen to his experiences of a +sailor's life.</p> +<p><a name="Page_76"></a>But all things must end in this mortal life, +and our +voyage was near its termination, when we were becalmed +on the Southern coast of England and could not +make more than one knot an hour. When within sight +of the distant shore, a pilot boat came along and offered +to take anyone ashore in six hours. I was so delighted +at the thought of reaching land that, after much persuasion, +Mr. Stanton and Mr. Birney consented to go. +Accordingly we were lowered into the boat in an armchair, +with a luncheon consisting of a cold chicken, a +loaf of bread, and a bottle of wine, with just enough +wind to carry our light craft toward our destination. +But, instead of six hours, we were all day trying to +reach the land, and, as the twilight deepened and the +last breeze died away, the pilot said: "We are now +two miles from shore, but the only way you can reach +there to-night is by a rowboat."</p> +<p>As we had no provisions left and nowhere to sleep, +we were glad to avail ourselves of the rowboat. It was +a bright moonlight night, the air balmy, the waters +smooth, and, with two stout oarsmen, we glided swiftly +along. As Mr. Birney made the last descent and +seated himself, doubtful as to our reaching shore, turning +to me he said: "The woman tempted me and I did +leave the good ship." However, we did reach the shore +at midnight and landed at Torquay, one of the loveliest +spots in that country, and our journey to Exeter the +next day lay through the most beautiful scenery in +England.</p> +<p>As we had no luggage with us, our detention by +customs officers was brief, and we were soon conducted +to a comfortable little hotel, which we found in the +morning was a bower of roses. I had never imagined +<a name="Page_77"></a>anything so beautiful as the drive up to Exeter +on the +top of a coach, with four stout horses, trotting at the +rate of ten miles an hour. It was the first day of June, +and the country was in all its glory. The foliage was of +the softest green, the trees were covered with blossoms, +and the shrubs with flowers. The roads were perfect; +the large, fine-looking coachman, with his white gloves +and reins, his rosy face and lofty bearing and the postman +in red, blowing his horn as we passed through +every village, made the drive seem like a journey in +fairyland. We had heard that England was like a garden +of flowers, but we were wholly unprepared for such +wealth of beauty.</p> +<p>In Exeter we had our first view of one of the great +cathedrals in the Old World, and we were all deeply impressed +with its grandeur. It was just at the twilight +hour, when the last rays of the setting sun, streaming +through the stained glass windows, deepened the shadows +and threw a mysterious amber light over all. As +the choir was practicing, the whole effect was heightened +by the deep tones of the organ reverberating +through the arched roof, and the sound of human +voices as if vainly trying to fill the vast space above. +The novelty and solemnity of the surroundings roused +all our religious emotions and thrilled every nerve in +our being. As if moved by the same impulse to linger +there a while, we all sat down, silently waiting for something +to break the spell that bound us. Can one wonder +at the power of the Catholic religion for centuries, +with such accessories to stimulate the imagination to a +blind worship of the unknown?</p> +<p>Sitting in the hotel that evening and wanting something +to read, we asked the waiter for the daily papers. +<a name="Page_78"></a>As there was no public table or drawing room for +guests, but each party had its own apartment, we +needed a little change from the society of each other. +Having been, as it were, shut from the outside world +for eighteen days, we had some curiosity to see whether +our planet was still revolving from west to east. At +the mention of papers in the plural number, the attendant +gave us a look of surprise, and said he would get +"it." He returned saying that the gentleman in No. +4 had "it," but he would be through in fifteen +minutes. Accordingly, at the end of that time, he +brought the newspaper, and, after we had had it the +same length of time, he came to take it to another +party. At our lodging house in London, a paper was +left for half an hour each morning, and then it was taken +to the next house, thus serving several families of +readers.</p> +<p>The next day brought us to London. When I first +entered our lodging house in Queen Street, I thought +it the gloomiest abode I had ever seen. The arrival of +a delegation of ladies, the next day, from Boston and +Philadelphia, changed the atmosphere of the establishment, +and filled me with delightful anticipations of +some new and charming acquaintances, which I fully +realized in meeting Emily Winslow, Abby Southwick, +Elizabeth Neal, Mary Grew, Abby Kimber, Sarah +Pugh, and Lucretia Mott. There had been a split in +the American anti-slavery ranks, and delegates came +from both branches, and, as they were equally represented +at our lodgings, I became familiar with the whole +controversy. The potent element which caused the +division was the woman question, and as the Garrisonian +branch maintained the right of women to speak +<a name="Page_79"></a>and vote in the conventions, all my sympathies +were +with the Garrisonians, though Mr. Stanton and Mr. +Birney belonged to the other branch, called political +abolitionists. To me there was no question so important +as the emancipation of women from the dogmas +of the past, political, religious, and social. It +struck me as very remarkable that abolitionists, who +felt so keenly the wrongs of the slave, should be so oblivious +to the equal wrongs of their own mothers, wives, +and sisters, when, according to the common law, both +classes occupied a similar legal status.</p> +<p>Our chief object in visiting England at this time was +to attend the World's Anti-slavery Convention, to meet +June 12, 1840, in Freemasons' Hall, London. Delegates +from all the anti-slavery societies of civilized +nations were invited, yet, when they arrived, those +representing associations of women were rejected. +Though women were members of the National Anti-slavery +Society, accustomed to speak and vote in all +its conventions, and to take an equally active part with +men in the whole anti-slavery struggle, and were there +as delegates from associations of men and women, as +well as those distinctively of their own sex, yet all alike +were rejected because they were women. Women, according +to English prejudices at that time, were excluded +by Scriptural texts from sharing equal dignity +and authority with men in all reform associations; hence +it was to English minds pre-eminently unfitting that +women should be admitted as equal members to a +World's Convention. The question was hotly debated +through an entire day. My husband made a very +eloquent speech in favor of admitting the women +delegates.</p> +<p><a name="Page_80"></a>When we consider that Lady Byron, Anna +Jameson, +Mary Howitt, Mrs. Hugo Reid, Elizabeth Fry, Amelia +Opie, Ann Green Phillips, Lucretia Mott, and many +remarkable women, speakers and leaders in the Society +of Friends, were all compelled to listen in silence to the +masculine platitudes on woman's sphere, one may +form some idea of the indignation of unprejudiced +friends, and especially that of such women as +Lydia Maria Child, Maria Chapman, Deborah Weston, +Angelina and Sarah Grimké, and Abby Kelly, +who were impatiently waiting and watching on +this side, in painful suspense, to hear how their +delegates were received. Judging from my own feelings, +the women on both sides of the Atlantic must +have been humiliated and chagrined, except as these +feelings were outweighed by contempt for the shallow +reasoning of their opponents and their comical pose +and gestures in some of the intensely earnest flights of +their imagination.</p> +<p>The clerical portion of the convention was most violent +in its opposition. The clergymen seemed to have +God and his angels especially in their care and keeping, +and were in agony lest the women should do or say +something to shock the heavenly hosts. Their all-sustaining +conceit gave them abundant assurance that their +movements must necessarily be all-pleasing to the +celestials whose ears were open to the proceedings of +the World's Convention. Deborah, Huldah, Vashti, +and Esther might have questioned the propriety of +calling it a World's Convention, when only half of +humanity was represented there; but what were their +opinions worth compared with those of the Rev. A. +Harvey, the Rev. C. Stout, or the Rev. J. Burnet, who, +<a name="Page_81"></a>Bible in hand, argued woman's subjection, +divinely decreed +when Eve was created.</p> +<p>One of our champions in the convention, George +Bradburn, a tall thick-set man with a voice like thunder, +standing head and shoulders above the clerical representatives, +swept all their arguments aside by declaring +with tremendous emphasis that, if they could prove +to him that the Bible taught the entire subjection of +one-half of the race to the other, he should consider +that the best thing he could do for humanity would be +to bring together every Bible in the universe and make +a grand bonfire of them.</p> +<p>It was really pitiful to hear narrow-minded bigots, +pretending to be teachers and leaders of men, so cruelly +remanding their own mothers, with the rest of womankind, +to absolute subjection to the ordinary masculine +type of humanity. I always regretted that the women +themselves had not taken part in the debate before the +convention was fully organized and the question of +delegates settled. It seemed to me then, and does now, +that all delegates with credentials from recognized societies +should have had a voice in the organization of the +convention, though subject to exclusion afterward. +However, the women sat in a low curtained seat like a +church choir, and modestly listened to the French, British, +and American Solons for twelve of the longest days +in June, as did, also, our grand Garrison and Rogers in +the gallery. They scorned a convention that ignored +the rights of the very women who had fought, side by +side, with them in the anti-slavery conflict. "After battling +so many long years," said Garrison, "for the liberties +of African slaves, I can take no part in a convention +that strikes down the most sacred rights of all women." +<a name="Page_82"></a>After coming three thousand miles to speak on the +subject +nearest his heart, he nobly shared the enforced +silence of the rejected delegates. It was a great act of +self-sacrifice that should never be forgotten by women.</p> +<p>Thomas Clarkson was chosen president of the convention +and made a few remarks in opening, but he soon +retired, as his age and many infirmities made all public +occasions too burdensome, and Joseph Sturge, a Quaker, +was made chairman. Sitting next to Mrs. Mott, +I said:</p> +<p>"As there is a Quaker in the chair now, what could +he do if the spirit should move you to speak?"</p> +<p>"Ah," she replied, evidently not believing such a +contingency possible, "where the spirit of the Lord is, +there is liberty."</p> +<p>She had not much faith in the sincerity of abolitionists +who, while eloquently defending the natural rights +of slaves, denied freedom of speech to one-half the people +of their own race. Such was the consistency of an +assemblage of philanthropists! They would have been +horrified at the idea of burning the flesh of the distinguished +women present with red-hot irons, but the +crucifixion of their pride and self-respect, the humiliation +of the spirit, seemed to them a most trifling matter. +The action of this convention was the topic of discussion, +in public and private, for a long time, and stung +many women into new thought and action and gave +rise to the movement for women's political equality +both in England and the United States.</p> +<p>As the convention adjourned, the remark was heard +on all sides, "It is about time some demand was made +for new liberties for women." As Mrs. Mott and I +walked home, arm in arm, commenting on the incidents +<a name="Page_83"></a>of the day, we resolved to hold a convention as +soon as +we returned home, and form a society to advocate the +rights of women. At the lodging house on Queen +Street, where a large number of delegates had apartments, +the discussions were heated at every meal, and +at times so bitter that, at last, Mr. Birney packed his +valise and sought more peaceful quarters. Having +strongly opposed the admission of women as delegates +to the convention it was rather embarrassing to meet +them, during the intervals between the various sessions, +at the table and in the drawing room.</p> +<p>These were the first women I had ever met who believed +in the equality of the sexes and who did not +believe in the popular orthodox religion. The acquaintance +of Lucretia Mott, who was a broad, liberal +thinker on politics, religion, and all questions of reform, +opened to me a new world of thought. As we walked +about to see the sights of London, I embraced every +opportunity to talk with her. It was intensely gratifying +to hear all that, through years of doubt, I had dimly +thought, so freely discussed by other women, some of +them no older than myself—women, too, of rare intelligence, +cultivation, and refinement. After six weeks' +sojourn under the same roof with Lucretia Mott, whose +conversation was uniformly on a high plane, I felt that +I knew her too well to sympathize with the orthodox +Friends, who denounced her as a dangerous woman because +she doubted certain dogmas they fully believed.</p> +<p>As Mr. Birney and my husband were invited to speak +all over England, Scotland, and Ireland, and we were +uniformly entertained by orthodox Friends, I had +abundant opportunity to know the general feeling +among them toward Lucretia Mott. Even Elizabeth +<a name="Page_84"></a>Fry seemed quite unwilling to breathe the same +atmosphere +with her. During the six weeks that many of +us remained in London after the convention we were +invited to a succession of public and private breakfasts, +dinners, and teas, and on these occasions it was amusing +to watch Mrs. Fry's sedulous efforts to keep Mrs. +Mott at a distance. If Mrs. Mott was on the lawn, +Mrs. Fry would go into the house; if Mrs. Mott was in +the house, Mrs. Fry would stay out on the lawn. One +evening, when we were all crowded into two parlors, +and there was no escape, the word went round that +Mrs. Fry felt moved to pray with the American delegates, +whereupon a profound silence reigned. After a +few moments Mrs. Fry's voice was heard deploring the +schism among the American Friends; that sol many had +been led astray by false doctrines; urging the Spirit of +All Good to show them the error of their way, and +gather them once more into the fold of the great Shepherd +of our faith. The prayer was directed so pointedly +at the followers of Elias Hicks, and at Lucretia +Mott in particular, that I whispered to Lucretia, at the +close, that she should now pray for Mrs. Fry, that her +eyes might be opened to her bigotry and uncharitableness, +and be led by the Spirit into higher light. "Oh, +no!" she replied, "a prayer of this character, under the +circumstances, is an unfair advantage to take of a +stranger, but I would not resent it in the house of her +friends."</p> +<p>In these gatherings we met the leading Quaker families +and many other philanthropists of different denominations +interested in the anti-slavery movement. +On all these occasions our noble Garrison spoke +most effectively, and thus our English friends had an +<a name="Page_85"></a>opportunity of enjoying his eloquence, the lack +of which +had been so grave a loss in the convention.</p> +<p>We devoted a month sedulously to sightseeing in +London, and, in the line of the traveler's duty, we explored +St. Paul's Cathedral, the British Museum, the +Tower, various prisons, hospitals, galleries of art, Windsor +Castle, and St. James's Palace, the Zoological Gardens, +the schools and colleges, the chief theaters and +churches, Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, +and the Courts. We heard the most famous +preachers, actors, and statesmen. In fact, we went to +the top and bottom of everything, from the dome of St. +Paul to the tunnel under the Thames, just then in the +process of excavation. We drove through the parks, +sailed up and down the Thames, and then visited every +shire but four in England, in all of which we had large +meetings, Mr. Birney and Mr. Stanton being the chief +speakers. As we were generally invited to stay with +Friends, it gave us a good opportunity to see the leading +families, such as the Ashursts, the Alexanders, the +Priestmans, the Braithwaites, and Buxtons, the Gurneys, +the Peases, the Wighams of Edinburgh, and the +Webbs of Dublin. We spent a few days with John +Joseph Gurney at his beautiful home in Norwich. He +had just returned from America, having made a tour +through the South. When asked how he liked +America, he said, "I like everything but your pie crust +and your slavery."</p> +<p>Before leaving London, the whole American delegation, +about forty in number, were invited to dine with +Samuel Gurney. He and his brother, John Joseph +Gurney, were, at that time, the leading bankers in London. +Someone facetiously remarked that the Jews +<a name="Page_86"></a>were the leading bankers in London until the +Quakers +crowded them out.</p> +<p>One of the most striking women I met in England +at this time was Miss Elizabeth Pease. I never saw +a more strongly marked face. Meeting her, forty years +after, on the platform of a great meeting in the Town +Hall at Glasgow, I knew her at once. She is now Mrs. +Nichol of Edinburgh, and, though on the shady side +of eighty, is still active in all the reforms of the day.</p> +<p>It surprised us very much at first, when driving into +the grounds of some of these beautiful Quaker homes, +to have the great bell rung at the lodge, and to see the +number of liveried servants on the porch and in the halls, +and then to meet the host in plain garb, and to be welcomed +in plain language, "How does thee do, Henry?" +"How does thee do Elizabeth?" This sounded peculiarly +sweet to me—a stranger in a strange land. The +wealthy English Quakers we visited at that time, taking +them all in all, were the most charming people I had +ever seen. They were refined and intelligent on all +subjects, and though rather conservative on some +points, were not aggressive in pressing their opinions +on others. Their hospitality was charming and generous, +their homes the beau ideal of comfort and order, +the cuisine faultless, while peace reigned over all. The +quiet, gentle manner and the soft tones in speaking, and +the mysterious quiet in these well-ordered homes were +like the atmosphere one finds in a modern convent, +where the ordinary duties of the day seem to be accomplished +by some magical influence.</p> +<p>Before leaving London we spent a delightful day +in June at the home of Samuel Gurney, surrounded by +a fine park with six hundred deer roaming about—<a name="Page_87"></a>always +a beautiful feature in the English landscape. As +the Duchess of Sutherland and Lord Morpeth had expressed +a wish to Mrs. Fry to meet some of the leading +American abolitionists, it was arranged that they should +call at her brother's residence on this occasion. Soon +after we arrived, the Duchess, with her brother and +Mrs. Fry, in her state carriage with six horses and outriders, +drove up to the door. Mr. Gurney was evidently +embarrassed at the prospect of a lord and a duchess +under his roof. Leaning on the arm of Mrs. Fry, the +duchess was formally introduced to us individually. +Mrs. Mott conversed with the distinguished guests +with the same fluency and composure as with her own +countrywomen. However anxious the English people +were as to what they should say and do, the Americans +were all quite at their ease.</p> +<p>As Lord Morpeth had some interesting letters from +the island of Jamaica to read to us, we formed a circle +on the lawn to listen. England had just paid one hundred +millions of dollars to emancipate the slaves, and we +were all interested in hearing the result of the experiment. +The distinguished guest in turn had many +questions to ask in regard to American slavery. We +found none of that prejudice against color in England +which is so inveterate among the American people; +at my first dinner in England I found myself beside a +gentleman from Jamaica, as black as the ace of spades. +After the departure of the duchess, dinner was announced. +It was a sumptuous meal, most tastefully +served. There were half a dozen wineglasses at every +plate, but abolitionists, in those days, were all converts +to temperance, and, as the bottles went around there +was a general headshaking, and the right hand ex<a name="Page_88"></a>tended +over the glasses. Our English friends were +amazed that none of us drank wine. Mr. Gurney said +he had never before seen such a sight as forty ladies and +gentlemen sitting down to dinner and none of them +tasting wine. In talking with him on that point, he +said:</p> +<p>"I suppose your nursing mothers drink beer?"</p> +<p>I laughed, and said, "Oh, no! We should be afraid +of befogging the brains of our children."</p> +<p>"No danger of that," said he; "we are all bright +enough, and yet a cask of beer is rolled into the cellar +for the mother with each newborn child."</p> +<p>Colonel Miller from Vermont, one of our American +delegation, was in the Greek war with Lord Byron. As +Lady Byron had expressed a wish to see him, that her +daughter might know something of her father's last +days, an interview was arranged, and the colonel kindly +invited me to accompany him. His account of their +acquaintance and the many noble traits of character +Lord Byron manifested, his generous impulses and acts +of self-sacrifice, seemed particularly gratifying to the +daughter. It was a sad interview, arranged chiefly for +the daughter's satisfaction, though Lady Byron listened +with a painful interest. As the colonel was a warm +admirer of the great poet, he no doubt represented him +in the best possible light, and his narration of his last +days was deeply interesting. Lady Byron had a quiet, +reserved manner, a sad face, and a low, plaintive voice, +like one who had known deep sorrow. I had seen her +frequently in the convention and at social teas, and had +been personally presented to her before this occasion. +Altogether I thought her a sweet, attractive-looking +woman.</p> +<p><a name="Page_89"></a>We had a pleasant interview with Lord Brougham +also. The Philadelphia Anti-slavery Society sent him +an elaborately carved inkstand, made from the wood of +Pennsylvania Hall, which was destroyed by a pro-slavery +mob. Mr. Birney made a most graceful speech in +presenting the memento, and Lord Brougham was +equally happy in receiving it.</p> +<p>One of the most notable characters we met at this +time was Daniel O'Connell. He made his first appearance +in the London convention a few days after the +women were rejected. He paid a beautiful tribute to +woman and said that, if he had been present when the +question was under discussion, he should have spoken +and voted for their admission. He was a tall, well-developed, +magnificent-looking man, and probably one of +the most effective speakers Ireland ever produced. I +saw him at a great India meeting in Exeter Hall, where +some of the best orators from France, America, and England +were present. There were six natives from India +on the platform who, not understanding anything that +was said, naturally remained listless throughout the +proceedings. But the moment O'Connell began to +speak they were all attention, bending forward and +closely watching every movement. One could almost +tell what he said from the play of his expressive features, +his wonderful gestures, and the pose of his whole body. +When he finished, the natives joined in the general applause. +He had all Wendell Phillips' power of sarcasm +and denunciation, and added to that the most tender +pathos. He could make his audience laugh or cry at +pleasure. It was a rare sight to see him dressed in +"Repeal cloth" in one of his Repeal meetings. We +were in Dublin in the midst of that excitement, when +<a name="Page_90"></a>the hopes of new liberties for that oppressed +people all +centered on O'Connell. The enthusiasm of the people +for the Repeal of the Union was then at white-heat. +Dining one day with the "Great Liberator," as he +was called, I asked him if he hoped to carry that +measure.</p> +<p>"No," he said, "but it is always good policy to claim +the uttermost and then you will be sure to get something."</p> +<p>Could he have looked forward fifty years and have +seen the present condition of his unhappy country, he +would have known that English greed and selfishness +could defeat any policy, however wise and far-seeing. +The successive steps by which Irish commerce was +ruined and religious feuds between her people continually +fanned into life, and the nation subjugated, form the +darkest page in the history of England. But the people +are awakening at last to their duty, and, for the first +time, organizing English public sentiment in favor of +"Home Rule." I attended several large, enthusiastic +meetings when last in England, in which the most radical +utterances of Irish patriots were received with prolonged +cheers. I trust the day is not far off when the +beautiful Emerald Isle will unfurl her banner before +the nations of the earth, enthroned as the Queen +Republic of those northern seas!</p> +<p>We visited Wordsworth's home at Grasmere, among +the beautiful lakes, but he was not there. However, +we saw his surroundings—the landscape that inspired +some of his poetic dreams, and the dense rows of hollyhocks +of every shade and color, leading from his porch +to the gate. The gardener told us this was his favorite +flower. Though it had no special beauty in itself, taken +<a name="Page_91"></a>alone, yet the wonderful combination of royal +colors +was indeed striking and beautiful. We saw Harriet +Martineau at her country home as well as at her house +in town. As we were obliged to converse with her +through an ear trumpet, we left her to do most of the +talking. She gave us many amusing experiences of her +travels in America, and her comments on the London +Convention were rich and racy. She was not an attractive +woman in either manner or appearance, though +considered great and good by all who knew her.</p> +<p>We spent a few days with Thomas Clarkson, in Ipswich. +He lived in a very old house with long rambling +corridors, surrounded by a moat, which we crossed' by +means of a drawbridge. He had just written an article +against the colonization scheme, which his wife read +aloud to us. He was so absorbed in the subject that he +forgot the article was written by himself, and kept up +a running applause with "hear!" "hear!" the English +mode of expressing approbation. He told us of the +severe struggles he and Wilberforce had gone through +in rousing the public sentiment of England to the demand +for emancipation in Jamaica. But their trials +were mild, compared with what Garrison and his coadjutors +had suffered in America.</p> +<p>Having read of all these people, it was difficult to realize, +as I visited them in their own homes from day to +day, that they were the same persons I had so long worshiped +from afar!</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_VI"></a> +<h2><a name="Page_92"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> +<h2>HOMEWARD BOUND.</h2> +<br> +<p>After taking a view of the wonders and surroundings +of London we spent a month in Paris. Fifty years ago +there was a greater difference in the general appearance +of things between France and England than now. +That countries only a few hours' journey apart should +differ so widely was to us a great surprise. How +changed the sights and sounds! Here was the old +diligence, lumbering along with its various compartments +and its indefinite number of horses, harnessed +with rope and leather, sometimes two, sometimes +three abreast, and sometimes one in advance, +with an outrider belaboring the poor beasts without +cessation, and the driver yelling and cracking +his whip. The uproar, confusion, and squabbles at +every stopping place are overwhelming; the upper +classes, men and women alike, rushing into each other's +arms, embrace and kiss, while drivers and hostlers on +the slightest provocation hurl at each other all the +denunciatory adjectives in the language, and with such +vehemence that you expect every moment to see a +deadly conflict. But to-day, as fifty years ago, they +never arrive at that point. Theirs was and is purely an +encounter of words, which they keep up, as they drive off +in opposite directions, just as far as they can hear and +see each other, with threats of vengeance to come. +<a name="Page_93"></a>Such an encounter between two Englishmen would +mean the death of one or the other.</p> +<p>All this was in marked contrast with John Bull and +his Island. There the people were as silent as if they +had been born deaf and dumb. The English stagecoach +was compact, clean, and polished from top to +bottom, the horses and harness glossy and in order, the +well-dressed, dignified coachman, who seldom spoke a +loud word or used his whip, kept his seat at the various +stages, while hostlers watered or changed the steeds; +the postman blew his bugle blast to have the mail +in readiness, and the reserved passengers made no +remarks on what was passing; for, in those days, Englishmen +were afraid to speak to each other for fear of +recognizing one not of their class, while to strangers +and foreigners they would not speak except in case of +dire necessity. The Frenchman was ready enough to +talk, but, unfortunately, we were separated by different +languages. Thus the Englishman would not talk, +the Frenchman could not, and the intelligent, loquacious +American driver, who discourses on politics, religion, +national institutions, and social gossip was unknown +on that side of the Atlantic. What the curious +American traveler could find out himself from observation +and pertinacious seeking he was welcome to, but +the Briton would waste no breath to enlighten Yankees +as to the points of interest or customs of his country.</p> +<p>Our party consisted of Miss Pugh, Abby Kimber, Mr. +Stanton, and myself. I had many amusing experiences +in making my wants known when alone, having +forgotten most of my French. For instance, traveling +night and day in the diligence to Paris, as the stops +were short, one was sometimes in need of something to +<a name="Page_94"></a>eat. One night as my companions were all asleep, +I +went out to get a piece of cake or a cracker, or whatever +of that sort I could obtain, but, owing to my clumsy +use of the language, I was misunderstood. Just as the +diligence was about to start, and the shout for us to +get aboard was heard, the waiter came running with a +piping hot plate of sweetbreads nicely broiled. I had +waited and wondered why it took so long to get a simple +piece of cake or biscuit, and lo! a piece of hot meat +was offered me. I could not take the frizzling thing +in my hand nor eat it without bread, knife, or fork, so +I hurried off to the coach, the man pursuing me to +the very door. I was vexed and disappointed, while +the rest of the party were convulsed with laughter at the +parting salute and my attempt to make my way alone. +It was some time before I heard the last of the "sweetbreads."</p> +<p>When we reached Paris we secured a courier who +could speak English, to show us the sights of that wonderful +city. Every morning early he was at the door, +rain or shine, to carry out our plans, which, with the +aid of our guidebook, we had made the evening before. +In this way, going steadily, day after day, we visited +all points of interest for miles round and sailed up and +down the Seine. The Palace of the Tuileries, with +its many associations with a long line of more or less +unhappy kings and queens, was then in its glory, and its +extensive and beautiful grounds were always gay with +crowds of happy people. These gardens were a great +resort for nurses and children and were furnished with +all manner of novel appliances for their amusement, including +beautiful little carriages drawn by four goats +with girls or boys driving, boats sailing in the air, seem<a + name="Page_95"></a>ingly +propelled by oars, and hobby horses flying round +on whirligigs with boys vainly trying to catch each +other. No people have ever taken the trouble to invent +so many amusements for children as have the +French. The people enjoyed being always in the open +air, night and day. The parks are crowded with amusement +seekers, some reading and playing games, some +sewing, knitting, playing on musical instruments, dancing, +sitting around tables in bevies eating, drinking, and +gayly chatting. And yet, when they drive in carriages +or go to their homes at night, they will shut themselves +in as tight as oysters in their shells. They have a +theory that night air is very injurious,—in the house,—although +they will sit outside until midnight. I found +this same superstition prevalent in France fifty years +later.</p> +<p>We visited the Hôtel des Invalides just as they were +preparing the sarcophagus for the reception of the remains +of Napoleon. We witnessed the wild excitement +of that enthusiastic people, and listened with deep +interest to the old soldiers' praises of their great +general. The ladies of our party chatted freely with +them. They all had interesting anecdotes to relate +of their chief. They said he seldom slept over four +hours, was an abstemious eater, and rarely changed a +servant, as he hated a strange face about him. He was +very fond of a game of chess, and snuffed continuously; +talked but little, was a light sleeper,—the stirring of a +mouse would awaken him,—and always on the watch-tower. +They said that, in his great campaigns, he +seemed to be omnipresent. A sentinel asleep at his +post would sometimes waken to find Napoleon on duty +in his place.</p> +<p><a name="Page_96"></a>The ship that brought back Napoleon's remains +was +the <i>Belle Poule</i> (the beautiful hen!), which landed at +Cherbourg, November 30, 1840. The body was conveyed +to the Church of the Invalides, which adjoins the +tomb. The Prince de Joinville brought the body from +Saint Helena, and Louis Philippe received it.</p> +<p>At that time each soldier had a little patch of land +to decorate as he pleased, in which many scenes from +their great battles were illustrated. One represented +Napoleon crossing the Alps. There were the cannon, +the soldiers, Napoleon on horseback, all toiling up the +steep ascent, perfect in miniature. In another was +Napoleon, flag in hand, leading the charge across the +bridge of Lodi. In still another was Napoleon in +Egypt, before the Pyramids, seated, impassive, on his +horse, gazing at the Sphinx, as if about to utter his immortal +words to his soldiers: "Here, forty centuries +look down upon us." These object lessons of the past +are all gone now and the land used for more prosaic purposes.</p> +<p>I little thought, as I witnessed that great event in +France in 1840, that fifty-seven years later I should +witness a similar pageant in the American Republic, +when our nation paid its last tributes to General Grant. +There are many points of similarity in these great +events. As men they were alike aggressive and self-reliant. +In Napoleon's will he expressed the wish that +his last resting place might be in the land and among +the people he loved so well. His desire is fulfilled. He +rests in the chief city of the French republic, whose +shores are washed by the waters of the Seine. General +Grant expressed the wish that he might be interred +in our metropolis and added: "Wherever I am buried, +<a name="Page_97"></a>I desire that there shall be room for my wife by +my +side." His wishes, too, are fulfilled. He rests in the +chief city of the American Republic, whose shores are +washed by the waters of the Hudson, and in his magnificent +mausoleum there is room for his wife by his +side.</p> +<p>Several members of the Society of Friends from Boston +and Philadelphia, who had attended the World's +Anti-slavery Convention in London, joined our party +for a trip on the Continent. Though opposed to war, +they all took a deep interest in the national excitement +and in the pageants that heralded the expected arrival +of the hero from Saint Helena. As they all wore military +coats of the time of George Fox, the soldiers, supposing +they belonged to the army of some country, +gave them the military salute wherever we went, much +to their annoyance and our amusement.</p> +<p>In going the rounds, Miss Pugh amused us by reading +aloud the description of what we were admiring and +the historical events connected with that particular +building or locality. We urged her to spend the time +taking in all she could see and to read up afterward; but +no, a history of France and Galignani's guide she carried +everywhere, and, while the rest of us looked until +we were fully satisfied, she took a bird's-eye view and +read the description. Dear little woman! She was a +fine scholar, a good historian, was well informed on all +subjects and countries, proved an invaluable traveling +companion, and could tell more of what we saw than all +the rest of us together.</p> +<p>On several occasions we chanced to meet Louis +Philippe dashing by in an open barouche. We felt +great satisfaction in remembering that at one time he +<a name="Page_98"></a>was an exile in our country, where he earned his +living +by teaching school. What an honor for Yankee children +to have been taught, by a French king, the rudiments +of his language.</p> +<p>Having been accustomed to the Puritan Sunday of +restraint and solemnity, I found that day in Paris gay +and charming. The first time I entered into some of +the festivities, I really expected to be struck by lightning. +The libraries, art galleries, concert halls, and +theaters were all open to the people. Bands of music +were playing in the parks, where whole families, with +their luncheons, spent the day—husbands, wives, and +children, on an excursion together. The boats on the +Seine and all public conveyances were crowded. Those +who had but this one day for pleasure seemed determined +to make the most of it. A wonderful contrast +with that gloomy day in London, where all places +of amusement were closed and nothing open to the people +but the churches and drinking saloons. The streets +and houses in which Voltaire, La Fayette, Mme. de +Staël, Mme. Roland, Charlotte Corday, and other +famous men and women lived and died, were pointed +out to us. We little thought, then, of all the terrible +scenes to be enacted in Paris, nor that France would +emerge from the dangers that beset her on every side +into a sister republic. It has been a wonderful +achievement, with kings and Popes all plotting against +her experiment, that she has succeeded in putting kingcraft +under her feet and proclaimed liberty, equality, +fraternity for her people.</p> +<p>After a few weeks in France, we returned to London, +traveling through England, Ireland, and Scotland for several +months. We visited the scenes that Shakespeare, +<a name="Page_99"></a>Burns, and Dickens had made classic. We spent a +few +days at Huntingdon, the home of Oliver Cromwell, and +visited the estate where he passed his early married life. +While there, one of his great admirers read aloud to us +a splendid article in one of the reviews, written by Carlyle, +giving "The Protector," as his friend said, his true +place in history. It was long the fashion of England's +historians to represent Cromwell as a fanatic and hypocrite, +but his character was vindicated by later writers. +"Never," says Macaulay, "was a ruler so conspicuously +born for sovereignty. The cup which has intoxicated +almost all others sobered him."</p> +<p>We saw the picturesque ruins of Kenilworth Castle, +the birthplace of Shakespeare, the homes of Byron and +Mary Chaworth, wandered through Newstead Abbey, +saw the monument to the faithful dog, and the large dining +room where Byron and his boon companions used +to shoot at a mark. It was a desolate region. We +stopped a day or two at Ayr and drove out to the birthplace +of Burns. The old house that had sheltered him +was still there, but its walls now echoed to other voices, +and the fields where he had toiled were plowed by +other hands. We saw the stream and banks where he +and Mary sat together, the old stone church where the +witches held their midnight revels, the two dogs, and +the bridge of Ayr. With Burns, as with Sappho, it +was love that awoke his heart to song. A bonny lass +who worked with him in the harvest field inspired his +first attempts at rhyme. Life, with Burns, was one +long, hard struggle. With his natural love for the +beautiful, the terrible depression of spirits he suffered +from his dreary surroundings was inevitable. The +interest great men took in him, when they awoke to +<a name="Page_100"></a>his genius, came too late for his safety and +encouragement. +In a glass of whisky he found, at last, the rest +and cheer he never knew when sober. Poverty and +ignorance are the parents of intemperance, and that +vice will never be suppressed until the burdens of life +are equally shared by all.</p> +<p>We saw Melrose by moonlight, spent several hours at +Abbotsford, and lingered in the little sanctum sanctorum +where Scott wrote his immortal works. It was so small +that he could reach the bookshelves on every side. +We went through the prisons, castles, and narrow +streets of Edinburgh, where the houses are seven and +eight stories high, each story projecting a few feet until, +at the uppermost, opposite neighbors could easily shake +hands and chat together. All the intervals from +active sight-seeing we spent in reading the lives of historical +personages in poetry and prose, until our sympathies +flowed out to the real and ideal characters. +Lady Jane Grey, Anne Boleyn, Mary Queen of Scots, +Ellen Douglas, Jeanie and Effie Deans, Highland Mary, +Rebecca the Jewess, Di Vernon, and Rob Roy all alike +seemed real men and women, whose shades or descendants +we hoped to meet on their native heath.</p> +<p>Here among the Scotch lakes and mountains Mr. +Stanton and I were traveling alone for the first time +since our marriage, and as we both enjoyed walking, we +made many excursions on foot to points that could not +be reached in any other way. We spent some time +among the Grampian Hills, so familiar to every schoolboy, +walking, and riding about on donkeys. We sailed +up and down Loch Katrine and Loch Lomond. My +husband was writing letters for some New York newspapers +on the entire trip, and aimed to get exact knowl<a name="Page_101"></a>edge +of all we saw; thus I had the advantage of the information +he gathered. On these long tramps I wore +a short dress, reaching just below the knee, of dark-blue +cloth, a military cap of the same material that +shaded my eyes, and a pair of long boots, made on the +masculine pattern then generally worn—the most easy +style for walking, as the pressure is equal on the whole +foot and the ankle has free play. Thus equipped, and +early trained by my good brother-in-law to long walks, +I found no difficulty in keeping pace with my husband.</p> +<p>Being self-reliant and venturesome in our explorations, +we occasionally found ourselves involved in grave +difficulties by refusing to take a guide. For instance, +we decided to go to the top of Ben Nevis alone. It +looked to us a straightforward piece of business to walk +up a mountain side on a bee line, and so, in the face of +repeated warnings by our host, we started. We knew +nothing of zigzag paths to avoid the rocks, the springs, +and swamps; in fact we supposed all mountains smooth +and dry, like our native hills that we were accustomed +to climb. The landlord shook his head and smiled +when we told him we should return at noon to dinner, +and we smiled, too, thinking he placed a low estimate +on our capacity for walking. But we had not gone far +when we discovered the difficulties ahead. Some places +were so steep that I had to hold on to my companion's +coat tails, while he held on to rocks and twigs, or braced +himself with a heavy cane. By the time we were halfway +up we were in a dripping perspiration, our feet +were soaking wet, and we were really too tired to proceed. +But, after starting with such supreme confidence +in ourselves, we were ashamed to confess our fatigue to +each other, and much more to return and verify all the +<a name="Page_102"></a>prognostications of the host and his guides. So +we +determined to push on and do what we had proposed. +With the prospect of a magnificent view and an hour's +delicious rest on the top, we started with renewed courage. +A steady climb of six hours brought us to the +goal of promise; our ascent was accomplished. But +alas! it was impossible to stop there—the cold wind +chilled us to the bone in a minute. So we took one +glance at the world below and hurried down the south +side to get the mountain between us and the cold northeaster.</p> +<p>When your teeth are chattering with the cold, and +the wind threatening to make havoc with your raiment, +you are not in a favorable condition to appreciate +grand scenery. Like the king of France with +twice ten thousand men, we marched up the hill and +then, marched down again. We found descending still +more difficult, as we were in constant fear of slipping, +losing our hold, and rolling to the bottom. We were +tired, hungry, and disappointed, and the fear of not +reaching the valley before nightfall pressed heavily +upon us. Neither confessed to the other the fatigue +and apprehension each felt, but, with fresh endeavor and +words of encouragement, we cautiously went on. We +accidentally struck a trail that led us winding down +comfortably some distance, but we lost it, and went +clambering down as well as we could in our usual way. +To add to our misery, a dense Scotch mist soon enveloped +us, so that we could see but a short distance +ahead, and not knowing the point from which we +started, we feared we might be going far out of our way. +The coming twilight, too, made the prospect still +darker. Fortunately our host, having less faith in us +<a name="Page_103"></a>than we had in ourselves, sent a guide to +reconnoiter, +and, just at the moment when we began to realize our +danger of spending the night on the mountain, and to +admit it to each other, the welcome guide hailed us in +his broad accent. His shepherd dog led the way into +the beaten path. As I could hardly stand I took the +guide's arm, and when we reached the bottom two +donkeys were in readiness to take us to the hotel.</p> +<p>We did not recover from the fatigue of that expedition +in several days, and we made no more experiments +of exploring strange places without guides. We +learned, too, that mountains are not so hospitable as +they seem nor so gently undulating as they appear in +the distance, and that guides serve other purposes besides +extorting money from travelers. If, under their +guidance, we had gone up and down easily, we should +always have thought we might as well have gone alone. +So our experience gave us a good lesson in humility. +We had been twelve hours on foot with nothing to eat, +when at last we reached the hotel. We were in no +mood for boasting of the success of our excursion, and +our answers were short to inquiries as to how we had +passed the day.</p> +<p>Being tired of traveling and contending about +woman's sphere with the Rev. John Scoble, an Englishman, +who escorted Mr. Birney and Mr. Stanton on +their tour through the country, I decided to spend a +month in Dublin; while the gentlemen held meetings +in Cork, Belfast, Waterford, Limerick, and other chief +towns, finishing the series with a large, enthusiastic +gathering in Dublin, at which O'Connell made one of +his most withering speeches on American slavery; the +inconsistency of such an "institution" with the princi<a name="Page_104"></a>ples +of a republican government giving full play to his +powers of sarcasm. On one occasion, when introduced +to a slaveholder, he put his hands behind his back, refusing +to recognize a man who bought and sold his +fellow-beings. The Rev. John Scoble was one of the +most conceited men I ever met. His narrow ideas in +regard to woman, and the superiority of the royal and +noble classes in his own country, were to me so exasperating +that I grew more and more bellicose every +day we traveled in company. He was terribly seasick +crossing the Channel, to my intense satisfaction. As +he always boasted of his distinguished countrymen, I +suggested, in the midst of one of his most agonizing +spasms, that he ought to find consolation in the fact +that Lord Nelson was always seasick on the slightest +provocation.</p> +<p>The poverty in Ireland was a continual trial to our +sensibilities; beggars haunted our footsteps everywhere, +in the street and on the highways, crouching on the +steps of the front door and on the curbstones, and surrounding +our carriage wherever and whenever we +stopped to shop or make a visit. The bony hands and +sunken eyes and sincere gratitude expressed for every +penny proved their suffering real. As my means were +limited and I could not pass one by, I got a pound +changed into pennies, and put them in a green bag, +which I took in the carriage wherever I went. It was +but a drop in the ocean, but it was all I could do to relieve +that unfathomed misery. The poverty I saw +everywhere in the Old World, and especially in Ireland, +was a puzzling problem to my mind, but I rejected the +idea that it was a necessary link in human experience—that +it always had been and always must be.</p> +<p><a name="Page_105"></a>As we drove, day by day, in that magnificent +Phoenix +Park, of fifteen hundred acres, one of the largest +parks, I believe, in the world, I would often put +the question to myself, what right have the few to make +a pleasure ground of these acres, while the many have +nowhere to lay their heads, crouching under stiles and +bridges, clothed in rags, and feeding on sea-weed with +no hope, in the slowly passing years, of any change for +the better? The despair stamped on every brow told +the sad story of their wrongs. Those accustomed to +such everyday experiences brush beggars aside as they +would so many flies, but those to whom such sights +are new cannot so easily quiet their own consciences. +Everyone in the full enjoyment of all the blessings of +life, in his normal condition, feels some individual responsibility +for the poverty of others. When the +sympathies are not blunted by any false philosophy, +one feels reproached by one's own abundance. I once +heard a young girl, about to take her summer outing, +when asked by her grandmother if she had all the +dresses she needed, reply, "Oh, yes! I was oppressed +with a constant sense of guilt, when packing, to see how +much I had, while so many girls have nothing decent +to wear."</p> +<p>More than half a century has rolled by since I stood +on Irish soil, and shed tears of pity for the wretchedness +I saw, and no change for the better has as yet come to +that unhappy people—yet this was the land of Burke, +Grattan, Shiel, and Emmett; the land into which Christianity +was introduced in the fifth century, St. Patrick +being the chief apostle of the new faith. In the sixth +century Ireland sent forth missionaries from her monasteries +to convert Great Britain and the nations of +<a name="Page_106"></a>Northern Europe. From the eighth to the twelfth +century Irish scholars held an enviable reputation. In +fact, Ireland was the center of learning at one time. The +arts, too, were cultivated by her people; and the round +towers, still pointed out to travelers, are believed to +be the remains of the architecture of the tenth century. +The ruin of Ireland must be traced to other causes than +the character of the people or the Catholic religion. +Historians give us facts showing English oppressions +sufficient to destroy any nation.</p> +<p>The short, dark days of November intensified, in +my eyes, the gloomy prospects of that people, and +made the change to the <i>Sirius</i> of the Cunard Line, the +first regular Atlantic steamship to cross the ocean, +most enjoyable. Once on the boundless ocean, one sees +no beggars, no signs of human misery, no crumbling +ruins of vast cathedral walls, no records of the downfall +of mighty nations, no trace, even, of the mortal agony +of the innumerable host buried beneath her bosom. +Byron truly says:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Time writes no wrinkle on thine azure brow—</p> +<p>Such as creation's dawn beheld, thou rollest now."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>When we embarked on the <i>Sirius</i>, we had grave +doubts as to our safety and the probability of our reaching +the other side, as we did not feel that ocean steamers +had yet been fairly tried. But, after a passage of +eighteen days, eleven hours, and fifteen minutes, we +reached Boston, having spent six hours at Halifax. We +little thought that the steamer <i>Sirius</i> of fifty years ago +would ever develop into the magnificent floating palaces +of to-day—three times as large and three times as +swift. In spite of the steamer, however, we had a cold, +<a name="Page_107"></a>rough, dreary voyage, and I have no pleasant +memories +connected with it. Our fellow-passengers were all in +their staterooms most of the time. Our good friend +Mr. Birney had sailed two weeks before us, and as Mr. +Stanton was confined to his berth, I was thrown on my +own resources. I found my chief amusement in reading +novels and playing chess with a British officer on his +way to Canada. When it was possible I walked on +deck with the captain, or sat in some sheltered corner, +watching the waves. We arrived in New York, by +rail, the day before Christmas. Everything looked +bright and gay in our streets. It seemed to me that +the sky was clearer, the air more refreshing, and the +sunlight more brilliant than in any other land!</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_VII"></a> +<h2><a name="Page_108"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> +<h2>MOTHERHOOD.</h2> +<br> +<p>We found my sister Harriet in a new home in Clinton +Place (Eighth Street), New York city, then considered +so far up town that Mr. Eaton's friends were continually +asking him why he went so far away from the social +center, though in a few months they followed him. +Here we passed a week. I especially enjoyed seeing +my little niece and nephew, the only grandchildren in +the family. The girl was the most beautiful child I +ever saw, and the boy the most intelligent and amusing. +He was very fond of hearing me recite the poem by +Oliver Wendell Holmes entitled "The Height of the +Ridiculous," which I did many times, but he always +wanted to see the lines that almost killed the man with +laughing. He went around to a number of the bookstores +one day and inquired for them. I told him +afterward they were never published; that when Mr. +Holmes saw the effect on his servant he suppressed +them, lest they should produce the same effect on the +typesetters, editors, and the readers of the Boston newspapers. +My explanation never satisfied him. I told +him he might write to Mr. Holmes, and ask the privilege +of reading the original manuscript, if it still was or +ever had been in existence. As one of my grand-nephews +was troubled in exactly the same way, I decided +to appeal myself to Dr. Holmes for the enlightenment +of this second generation. So I wrote him the +<a name="Page_109"></a>following letter, which he kindly answered, +telling us +that his "wretched man" was a myth like the heroes +in "Mother Goose's Melodies":</p> +<div class="blkquot"> +<p>"DEAR DR. HOLMES:</p> +<p>"I have a little nephew to whom I often recite 'The +Height of the Ridiculous,' and he invariably asks for +the lines that produced the fatal effect on your servant. +He visited most of the bookstores in New York city to +find them, and nothing but your own word, I am sure, +will ever convince him that the 'wretched man' is but +a figment of your imagination. I tried to satisfy him +by saying you did not dare to publish the lines lest they +should produce a similar effect on the typesetters, editors, +and the readers of the Boston journals.</p> +<p>"However, he wishes me to ask you whether you +kept a copy of the original manuscript, or could reproduce +the lines with equal power. If not too much +trouble, please send me a few lines on this point, and +greatly oblige,</p> +<p style="margin-left: 80px;">"Yours sincerely,</p> +<p style="margin-left: 160px;">"ELIZABETH CADY STANTON."</p> +<br> +<p>"MY DEAR MRS. STANTON:</p> +<p>"I wish you would explain to your little nephew that +the story of the poor fellow who almost died laughing +was a kind of a dream of mine, and not a real thing that +happened, any more than that an old woman 'lived in +a shoe and had so many children she didn't know what +to do,' or that Jack climbed the bean stalk and found +the giant who lived at the top of it. You can explain +to him what is meant by imagination, and thus turn my +youthful rhymes into a text for a discourse worthy of +<a name="Page_110"></a>the Concord School of Philosophy. I have not my +poems by me here, but I remember that 'The Height +of the Ridiculous' ended with this verse:</p> +</div> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Ten days and nights, with sleepless eye,</p> +<p>I watched that wretched man,</p> +<p>And since, I never dare to write</p> +<p>As funny as I can."</p> +</div> +</div> +<div class="blkquot"> +<p>"But tell your nephew he mustn't cry about it any +more than because geese go barefoot and bald eagles +have no nightcaps. The verses are in all the editions +of my poems.</p> +<div style="margin-left: 40px;">"Believe me, dear Mrs. Stanton,<br> +<div style="margin-left: 40px;">"Very Truly and Respectfully Yours,</div> +</div> +<p style="text-align: left; margin-left: 160px;">"OLIVER WENDELL +HOLMES."</p> +</div> +<p>After spending the holidays in New York city, we +started for Johnstown in a "stage sleigh, conveying the +United States mail," drawn by spanking teams of four +horses, up the Hudson River valley. We were three +days going to Albany, stopping over night at various +points; a journey now performed in three hours. The +weather was clear and cold, the sleighing fine, the +scenery grand, and our traveling companions most +entertaining, so the trip was very enjoyable. From Albany +to Schenectady we went in the railway cars; then +another sleighride of thirty miles brought us to Johnstown. +My native hills, buried under two feet of snow, +tinted with the last rays of the setting sun, were a beautiful +and familiar sight. Though I had been absent but +ten months, it seemed like years, and I was surprised to +find how few changes had occurred since I left. My +father and mother, sisters Madge and Kate, the old +house and furniture, the neighbors, all looked precisely +<a name="Page_111"></a>the same as when I left them. I had seen so much +and +been so constantly on the wing that I wondered that all +things here should have stood still. I expected to hear +of many births, marriages, deaths, and social upheavals, +but the village news was remarkably meager. This +hunger for home news on returning is common, I suppose, +to all travelers.</p> +<p>Our trunks unpacked, wardrobes arranged in closets +and drawers, the excitement of seeing friends over, we +spent some time in making plans for the future.</p> +<p>My husband, after some consultation with my father, +decided to enter his office and commence the study of +the law. As this arrangement kept me under the +parental roof, I had two added years of pleasure, walking, +driving, and riding on horseback with my sisters. +Madge and Kate were dearer to me than ever, as I saw +the inevitable separation awaiting us in the near future. +In due time they were married and commenced housekeeping—Madge +in her husband's house near by, and +Kate in Buffalo. All my sisters were peculiarly fortunate +in their marriages; their husbands being men of +fine presence, liberal education, high moral character, +and marked ability. These were pleasant and profitable +years. I devoted them to reading law, history, and +political economy, with occasional interruptions to take +part in some temperance or anti-slavery excitement.</p> +<p>Eliza Murray and I had classes of colored children in +the Sunday school. On one occasion, when there was +to be a festival, speaking in the church, a procession +through the streets, and other public performances for +the Sunday-school celebration, some narrow-minded +bigots objected to the colored children taking part. +They approached Miss Murray and me with most per<a name="Page_112"></a>suasive +tones on the wisdom of not allowing them to +march in the procession to the church. We said, "Oh, +no! It won't do to disappoint the children. They are +all dressed, with their badges on, and looking forward +with great pleasure to the festivities of the day. Besides, +we would not cater to any of these contemptible +prejudices against color." We were all assembled in +the courthouse preparatory to forming in the line of +march. Some were determined to drive the colored +children home, but Miss Murray and I, like two defiant +hens, kept our little brood close behind us, determined +to conquer or perish in the struggle. At last +milder counsels prevailed, and it was agreed that they +might march in the rear. We made no objection and fell +into line, but, when we reached the church door, it was +promptly closed as the last white child went in. We +tried two other doors, but all were guarded. We shed +tears of vexation and pity for the poor children, and, +when they asked us the reason why they could not go +in, we were embarrassed and mortified with the explanation +we were forced to give. However, I invited +them to my father's house, where Miss Murray and I +gave them refreshments and entertained them for the +rest of the day.</p> +<p>The puzzling questions of theology and poverty that +had occupied so much of my thoughts, now gave place +to the practical one, "what to do with a baby." +Though motherhood is the most important of all the +professions,—requiring more knowledge than any other +department in human affairs,—yet there is not sufficient +attention given to the preparation for this +office. If we buy a plant of a horticulturist we +ask him many questions as to its needs, whether +<a name="Page_113"></a>it thrives best in sunshine or in shade, whether +it +needs much or little water, what degrees of heat +or cold; but when we hold in our arms for the +first time, a being of infinite possibilities, in whose +wisdom may rest the destiny of a nation, we take +it for granted that the laws governing its life, health, +and happiness are intuitively understood, that there is +nothing new to be learned in regard to it. Yet here is +a science to which philosophers have, as yet, given but +little attention. An important fact has only been discovered +and acted upon within the last ten years, that +children come into the world tired, and not hungry, exhausted +with the perilous journey. Instead of being +thoroughly bathed and dressed, and kept on the rack +while the nurse makes a prolonged toilet and feeds it +some nostrum supposed to have much needed medicinal +influence, the child's face, eyes, and mouth should be +hastily washed with warm water, and the rest of its +body thoroughly oiled, and then it should be slipped +into a soft pillow case, wrapped in a blanket, and laid +to sleep. Ordinarily, in the proper conditions, with +its face uncovered in a cool, pure atmosphere, it will +sleep twelve hours. Then it should be bathed, fed, and +clothed in a high-necked, long-sleeved silk shirt and a +blanket, all of which could be done in five minutes. As +babies lie still most of the time the first six weeks, they +need no dressing. I think the nurse was a full hour +bathing and dressing my firstborn, who protested with +a melancholy wail every blessed minute.</p> +<p>Ignorant myself of the initiative steps on the +threshold of time, I supposed this proceeding was +approved by the best authorities. However, I had +been thinking, reading, observing, and had as lit<a name="Page_114"></a>tle +faith in the popular theories in regard to babies +as on any other subject. I saw them, on all +sides, ill half the time, pale and peevish, dying +early, having no joy in life. I heard parents complaining +of weary days and sleepless nights, while each +child, in turn, ran the gauntlet of red gum, jaundice, +whooping cough, chicken-pox, mumps, measles, scarlet +fever, and fits. They all seemed to think these +inflictions were a part of the eternal plan—that Providence +had a kind of Pandora's box, from which he scattered +these venerable diseases most liberally among +those whom he especially loved. Having gone through +the ordeal of bearing a child, I was determined, if possible, +to keep him, so I read everything I could find on +the subject. But the literature on this subject was as +confusing and unsatisfactory as the longer and shorter +catechisms and the Thirty-nine Articles of our faith. I +had recently visited our dear friends, Theodore and +Angelina Grimke-Weld, and they warned me against +books on this subject. They had been so misled by one +author, who assured them that the stomach of a child +could only hold one tablespoonful, that they nearly +starved their firstborn to death. Though the child +dwindled, day by day, and, at the end of a month, looked +like a little old man, yet they still stood by the distinguished +author. Fortunately, they both went off, one +day, and left the child with Sister "Sarah," who +thought she would make an experiment and see what +a child's stomach could hold, as she had grave doubts +about the tablespoonful theory. To her surprise the +baby took a pint bottle full of milk, and had the sweetest +sleep thereon he had known in his earthly career. +After that he was permitted to take what he wanted, +<a name="Page_115"></a>and "the author" was informed of his libel on +the infantile +stomach.</p> +<p>So here, again, I was entirely afloat, launched on the +seas of doubt without chart or compass. The life and +well-being of the race seemed to hang on the slender +thread of such traditions as were handed down by-ignorant +mothers and nurses. One powerful ray of +light illuminated the darkness; it was the work of +Andrew Combe on "Infancy." He had, evidently +watched some of the manifestations of man in the first +stages of his development, and could tell, at least, as +much of babies as naturalists could of beetles and bees. +He did give young mothers some hints of what to do, +the whys and wherefores of certain lines of procedure +during antenatal life, as well as the proper care thereafter. +I read several chapters to the nurse. Although, +out of her ten children, she had buried +five, she still had too much confidence in her own +wisdom and experience to pay much attention to +any new idea that might be suggested to her. Among +other things, Combe said that a child's bath should be +regulated by the thermometer, in order to be always of +the same temperature. She ridiculed the idea, and said +her elbow was better than any thermometer, and, when +I insisted on its use, she would invariably, with a smile +of derision, put her elbow in first, to show how exactly +it tallied with the thermometer. When I insisted that +the child should not be bandaged, she rebelled outright, +and said she would not take the responsibility of nursing +a child without a bandage. I said, "Pray, sit down, +dear nurse, and let us reason together. Do not think +I am setting up my judgment against yours, with all +your experience. I am simply trying to act on the +<a name="Page_116"></a>opinions of a distinguished physician, who says +there +should be no pressure on a child anywhere; that +the limbs and body should be free; that it is cruel to +bandage an infant from hip to armpit, as is usually done +in America; or both body and legs, as is done in Europe; +or strap them to boards, as is done by savages on +both continents. Can you give me one good reason, +nurse, why a child should be bandaged?"</p> +<p>"Yes," she said emphatically, "I can give you a +dozen."</p> +<p>"I only asked for one," I replied.</p> +<p>"Well," said she, after much hesitation, "the bones +of a newborn infant are soft, like cartilage, and, unless +you pin them up snugly, there is danger of their falling +apart."</p> +<p>"It seems to me," I replied, "you have given the +strongest reason why they should be carefully guarded +against the slightest pressure. It is very remarkable +that kittens and puppies should be so well put together +that they need no artificial bracing, and the human +family be left wholly to the mercy of a bandage. Suppose +a child was born where you could not get a bandage, +what then? Now I think this child will remain +intact without a bandage, and, if I am willing to take +the risk, why should you complain?"</p> +<p>"Because," said she, "if the child should die, it +would injure my name as a nurse. I therefore wash +my hands of all these new-fangled notions."</p> +<p>So she bandaged the child every morning, and I as +regularly took it off. It has been fully proved since to +be as useless an appendage as the vermiform. She had +several cups with various concoctions of herbs standing +on the chimney-corner, ready for insomnia, colic, indi<a name="Page_117"></a>gestion, +etc., etc., all of which were spirited away when +she was at her dinner. In vain I told her we were +homeopathists, and afraid of everything in the animal, +vegetable, or mineral kingdoms lower than the two-hundredth +dilution. I tried to explain the Hahnemann +system of therapeutics, the philosophy of the principle +<i>similia similibus curantur</i>, but she had no capacity for +first principles, and did not understand my discourse. I +told her that, if she would wash the baby's mouth with +pure cold water morning and night and give it a teaspoonful +to drink occasionally during the day, there +would be no danger of red gum; that if she would keep +the blinds open and let in the air and sunshine, keep the +temperature of the room at sixty-five degrees, leave +the child's head uncovered so that it could breathe +freely, stop rocking and trotting it and singing such +melancholy hymns as "Hark, from the tombs a doleful +sound!" the baby and I would both be able to +weather the cape without a bandage. I told her I +should nurse the child once in two hours, and that she +must not feed it any of her nostrums in the meantime; +that a child's stomach, being made on the same general +plan as our own, needed intervals of rest as well as ours. +She said it would be racked with colic if the stomach +was empty any length of time, and that it would surely +have rickets if it were kept too still. I told her if the +child had no anodynes, nature would regulate its sleep +and motions. She said she could not stay in a room +with the thermometer at sixty-five degrees, so I told +her to sit in the next room and regulate the heat to +suit herself; that I would ring a bell when her services +were needed.</p> +<p>The reader will wonder, no doubt, that I kept such a +<a name="Page_118"></a>cantankerous servant. I could get no other. Dear +"Mother Monroe," as wise as she was good, and as +tender as she was strong, who had nursed two generations +of mothers in our village, was engaged at that +time, and I was compelled to take an exotic. I had +often watched "Mother Monroe" with admiration, as +she turned and twisted my sister's baby. It lay as +peacefully in her hands as if they were lined with eider +down. She bathed and dressed it by easy stages, turning +the child over and over like a pancake. But she +was so full of the magnetism of human love, giving the +child, all the time, the most consoling assurance that +the operation was to be a short one, that the whole proceeding +was quite entertaining to the observer and +seemingly agreeable to the child, though it had a rather +surprised look as it took a bird's-eye view, in quick succession, +of the ceiling and the floor. Still my nurse had +her good points. She was very pleasant when she had +her own way. She was neat and tidy, and ready to +serve me at any time, night or day. She did not wear +false teeth that rattled when she talked, nor boots that +squeaked when she walked. She did not snuff nor chew +cloves, nor speak except when spoken to. Our discussions, +on various points, went on at intervals, until +I succeeded in planting some ideas in her mind, and +when she left me, at the end of six weeks, she confessed +that she had learned some valuable lessons. As +the baby had slept quietly most of the time, had no +crying spells, nor colic, and I looked well, she naturally +came to the conclusion that pure air, sunshine, proper +dressing, and regular feeding were more necessary for +babies than herb teas and soothing syrups.</p> +<p>Besides the obstinacy of the nurse, I had the igno<a name="Page_119"></a>rance +of physicians to contend with. When the child +was four days old we discovered that the collar bone +was bent. The physician, wishing to get a pressure on +the shoulder, braced the bandage round the wrist. +"Leave that," he said, "ten days, and then it will be +all right." Soon after he left I noticed that the child's +hand was blue, showing that the circulation was impeded. +"That will never do," said I; "nurse, take it +off." "No, indeed," she answered, "I shall never interfere +with the doctor." So I took it off myself, and +sent for another doctor, who was said to know more of +surgery. He expressed great surprise that the first +physician called should have put on so severe a bandage. +"That," said he, "would do for a grown man, but ten +days of it on a child would make him a cripple." However, +he did nearly the same thing, only fastening it +round the hand instead of the wrist. I soon saw that +the ends of the fingers were all purple, and that to leave +that on ten days would be as dangerous as the first. +So I took that off.</p> +<p>"What a woman!" exclaimed the nurse. "What +do you propose to do?"</p> +<p>"Think out something better, myself; so brace me +up with some pillows and give the baby to me."</p> +<p>She looked at me aghast and said, "You'd better trust +the doctors, or your child will be a helpless cripple."</p> +<p>"Yes," I replied, "he would be, if we had left either +of those bandages on, but I have an idea of something +better."</p> +<p>"Now," said I, talking partly to myself and partly to +her, "what we want is a little pressure on that bone; +that is what both those men aimed at. How can we +get it without involving the arm, is the question?"</p> +<p>"<a name="Page_120"></a>I am sure I don't know," said she, rubbing +her +hands and taking two or three brisk turns round the +room.</p> +<p>"Well, bring me three strips of linen, four double." +I then folded one, wet in arnica and water, and laid it +on the collar bone, put two other bands, like a pair of +suspenders, over the shoulders, crossing them both in +front and behind, pinning the ends to the diaper, which +gave the needed pressure without impeding the circulation +anywhere. As I finished she gave me a look of +budding confidence, and seemed satisfied that all was +well. Several times, night and day, we wet the compress +and readjusted the bands, until all appearances of +inflammation had subsided.</p> +<p>At the end of ten days the two sons of Aesculapius +appeared and made their examination and said all was +right, whereupon I told them how badly their bandages +worked and what I had done myself. They smiled at +each other, and one said:</p> +<p>"Well, after all, a mother's instinct is better than a +man's reason."</p> +<p>"Thank you, gentlemen, there was no instinct about +it. I did some hard thinking before I saw how I could +get a pressure on the shoulder without impeding the +circulation, as you did."</p> +<p>Thus, in the supreme moment of a young mother's +life, when I needed tender care and support, I felt the +whole responsibility of my child's supervision; but +though uncertain at every step of my own knowledge, +I learned another lesson in self-reliance. I trusted +neither men nor books absolutely after this, either in +regard to the heavens above or the earth beneath, +but continued to use my "mother's instinct," if "rea<a name="Page_121"></a>son" +is too dignified a term to apply to woman's +thoughts. My advice to every mother is, above all +other arts and sciences, study first what relates to babyhood, +as there is no department of human action in +which there is such lamentable ignorance.</p> +<p>At the end of six weeks my nurse departed, and I had +a good woman in her place who obeyed my orders, +and now a new difficulty arose from an unexpected +quarter. My father and husband took it into their +heads that the child slept too much. If not awake +when they wished to look at him or to show him to +their friends, they would pull him out of his crib on all +occasions. When I found neither of them was amenable +to reason on this point, I locked the door, and no +amount of eloquent pleading ever gained them admittance +during the time I considered sacred to the baby's +slumbers. At six months having, as yet, had none of +the diseases supposed to be inevitable, the boy weighed +thirty pounds. Then the stately Peter came again into +requisition, and in his strong arms the child spent many +of his waking hours. Peter, with a long, elephantine +gait, slowly wandered over the town, lingering +especially in the busy marts of trade. Peter's curiosity +had strengthened with years, and, wherever a crowd +gathered round a monkey and hand organ, a vender's +wagon, an auction stand, or the post office at mail time, +there stood Peter, black as coal, with "the beautiful +boy in white," the most conspicuous figure in the +crowd. As I told Peter never to let children kiss the +baby, for fear of some disease, he kept him well aloft, +allowing no affectionate manifestations except toward +himself.</p> +<p>My reading, at this time, centered on hygiene. I +<a name="Page_122"></a>came to the conclusion, after much thought and +observation, +that children never cried unless they were uncomfortable. +A professor at Union College, who used +to combat many of my theories, said he gave one of his +children a sound spanking at six weeks, and it never +disturbed him a night afterward. Another Solomon +told me that a very weak preparation of opium would +keep a child always quiet and take it through the dangerous +period of teething without a ripple on the surface +of domestic life. As children cannot tell what ails +them, and suffer from many things of which parents are +ignorant, the crying of the child should arouse them to +an intelligent examination. To spank it for crying is +to silence the watchman on the tower through fear, to +give soothing syrup is to drug the watchman while the +evils go on. Parents may thereby insure eight hours' +sleep at the time, but at the risk of greater trouble in the +future with sick and dying children. Tom Moore tells +us "the heart from love to one, grows bountiful to all." +I know the care of one child made me thoughtful of +all. I never hear a child cry, now, that I do not feel +that I am bound to find out the reason.</p> +<p>In my extensive travels on lecturing tours, in after +years, I had many varied experiences with babies. One +day, in the cars, a child was crying near me, while the +parents were alternately shaking and slapping it. First +one would take it with an emphatic jerk, and then the +other. At last I heard the father say in a spiteful tone, +"If you don't stop I'll throw you out of the window." +One naturally hesitates about interfering between parents +and children, so I generally restrain myself as long +as I can endure the torture of witnessing such outrages, +but at length I turned and said:</p> +<p>"<a name="Page_123"></a>Let me take your child and see if I can find +out what +ails it."</p> +<p>"Nothing ails it," said the father, "but bad temper."</p> +<p>The child readily came to me. I felt all around to see +if its clothes pinched anywhere, or if there were any +pins pricking. I took off its hat and cloak to see if +there were any strings cutting its neck or choking it. +Then I glanced at the feet, and lo! there was the trouble. +The boots were at least one size too small. I took +them off, and the stockings, too, and found the feet as +cold as ice and the prints of the stockings clearly traced +on the tender flesh. We all know the agony of tight +boots. I rubbed the feet and held them in my hands +until they were warm, when the poor little thing fell +asleep. I said to the parents, "You are young people, +I see, and this is probably your first child." They said, +"Yes." "You don't intend to be cruel, I know, but +if you had thrown those boots out of the window, when +you threatened to throw the child, it would have been +wiser. This poor child has suffered ever since it +was dressed this morning." I showed them the marks +on the feet, and called their attention to the fact that +the child fell asleep as soon as its pain was relieved. The +mother said she knew the boots were tight, as it was +with difficulty she could get them on, but the old ones +were too shabby for the journey and they had no time +to change the others.</p> +<p>"Well," said the husband, "if I had known those +boots were tight, I would have thrown them out of the +window."</p> +<p>"Now," said I, "let me give you one rule: when +your child cries, remember it is telling you, as well as it +can, that something hurts it, either outside or in, and +<a name="Page_124"></a>do not rest until you find what it is. Neither +spanking, +shaking, or scolding can relieve pain."</p> +<p>I have seen women enter the cars with their babies' +faces completely covered with a blanket shawl. I have +often thought I would like to cover their faces for an +hour and see how they would bear it. In such circumstances, +in order to get the blanket open, I have asked +to see the baby, and generally found it as red as a beet. +Ignorant nurses and mothers have discovered that children +sleep longer with their heads covered. They don't +know why, nor the injurious effect of breathing over +and over the same air that has been thrown off the lungs +polluted with carbonic acid gas. This stupefies the +child and prolongs the unhealthy slumber.</p> +<p>One hot day, in the month of May, I entered a +crowded car at Cedar Rapids, Ia., and took the only +empty seat beside a gentleman who seemed very nervous +about a crying child. I was scarcely seated when +he said:</p> +<p>"Mother, do you know anything about babies?"</p> +<p>"Oh, yes!" I said, smiling, "that is a department of +knowledge on which I especially pride myself."</p> +<p>"Well," said he, "there is a child that has cried most +of the time for the last twenty-four hours. What do +you think ails it?"</p> +<p>Making a random supposition, I replied, "It probably +needs a bath."</p> +<p>He promptly rejoined, "If you will give it one, I +will provide the necessary means."</p> +<p>I said, "I will first see if the child will come to me +and if the mother is willing."</p> +<p>I found the mother only too glad to have a few +minutes' rest, and the child too tired to care who took +<a name="Page_125"></a>it. She gave me a suit of clean clothes +throughout, +the gentleman spread his blanket shawl on the seat, +securing the opposite one for me and the bathing appliances. +Then he produced a towel, sponge, and an +india-rubber bowl full of water, and I gave the child a +generous drink and a thorough ablution. It stretched +and seemed to enjoy every step of the proceeding, and, +while I was brushing its golden curls as gently as I +could, it fell asleep; so I covered it with the towel and +blanket shawl, not willing to disturb it for dressing. +The poor mother, too, was sound asleep, and the gentleman +very happy. He had children of his own and, +like me, felt great pity for the poor, helpless little victim +of ignorance and folly. I engaged one of the ladies +to dress it when it awoke, as I was soon to leave the +train. It slept the two hours I remained—how much +longer I never heard.</p> +<p>A young man, who had witnessed the proceeding, got +off at the same station and accosted me, saying:</p> +<p>"I should be very thankful if you would come and +see my baby. It is only one month old and cries all the +time, and my wife, who is only sixteen years old, is +worn out with it and neither of us know what to do, so +we all cry together, and the doctor says he does not see +what ails it."</p> +<p>So I went on my mission of mercy and found the +child bandaged as tight as a drum. When I took out +the pins and unrolled it, it fairly popped like the cork +out of a champagne bottle. I rubbed its breast and its +back and soon soothed it to sleep. I remained a long +time, telling them how to take care of the child and the +mother, too. I told them everything I could think of +in regard to clothes, diet, and pure air. I asked the +<a name="Page_126"></a>mother why she bandaged her child as she did. +She +said her nurse told her that there was danger of hernia +unless the abdomen was well bandaged. I told her that +the only object of a bandage was to protect the navel, +for a few days, until it was healed, and for that purpose +all that was necessary was a piece of linen four inches +square, well oiled, folded four times double, with a hole +in the center, laid over it. I remembered, next day, +that I forgot to tell them to give the child water, and +so I telegraphed them, "Give the baby water six times +a day." I heard of that baby afterward. It lived and +flourished, and the parents knew how to administer to +the wants of the next one. The father was a telegraph +operator and had many friends—knights of the key—throughout +Iowa. For many years afterward, in leisure +moments, these knights would "call up" this parent +and say, over the wire, "Give the baby water six times +a day." Thus did they "repeat the story, and spread +the truth from pole to pole."</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_VIII"></a> +<h2><a name="Page_127"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> +<h2>BOSTON AND CHELSEA.</h2> +<br> +<p>In the autumn of 1843 my husband was admitted to +the bar and commenced the practice of law in Boston +with Mr. Bowles, brother-in-law of the late General +John A. Dix. This gave me the opportunity to make +many pleasant acquaintances among the lawyers in Boston, +and to meet, intimately, many of the noble men +and women among reformers, whom I had long worshiped +at a distance. Here, for the first time, I met +Lydia Maria Child, Abby Kelly, Paulina Wright, Elizabeth +Peabody, Maria Chapman and her beautiful sisters, +the Misses Weston, Oliver and Marianna Johnson, +Joseph and Thankful Southwick and their three bright +daughters. The home of the Southwicks was always +a harbor of rest for the weary, where the anti-slavery +hosts were wont to congregate, and where one was +always sure to meet someone worth knowing. Their +hospitality was generous to an extreme, and so boundless +that they were, at last, fairly eaten out of house +and home. Here, too, for the first time, I met Theodore +Parker, John Pierpont, John G. Whittier, Emerson, +Alcott, Lowell, Hawthorne, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel +E. Sewall, Sidney Howard Gay, Pillsbury, Foster, +Frederick Douglass, and last though not least, those +noble men, Charles Hovey and Francis Jackson, the +only men who ever left any money to the cause of +woman suffrage. I also met Miss Jackson, afterward +<a name="Page_128"></a>Mrs. Eddy, who left half her fortune, fifty +thousand dollars, +for the same purpose.</p> +<p>I was a frequent visitor at the home of William +Lloyd Garrison. Though he had a prolonged battle +to fight in the rough outside world, his home was +always a haven of rest. Mrs. Garrison was a sweet-tempered, +conscientious woman, who tried, under +all circumstances, to do what was right. She had +sound judgment and rare common sense, was tall +and fine-looking, with luxuriant brown hair, large +tender blue eyes, delicate features, and affable manners. +They had an exceptionally fine family of five sons and +one daughter. Fanny, now the wife of Henry Villard, +the financier, was the favorite and pet. All the children, +in their maturer years, have fulfilled the promises +of their childhood. Though always in straitened +circumstances, the Garrisons were very hospitable. It +was next to impossible for Mr. Garrison to meet a +friend without inviting him to his house, especially at +the close of a convention.</p> +<p>I was one of twelve at one of his impromptu tea +parties. We all took it for granted that his wife knew +we were coming, and that her preparations were already +made. Surrounded by half a dozen children, she was +performing the last act in the opera of Lullaby, wholly +unconscious of the invasion downstairs. But Mr. Garrison +was equal to every emergency, and, after placing +his guests at their ease in the parlor, he hastened to the +nursery, took off his coat, and rocked the baby until +his wife had disposed of the remaining children. Then +they had a consultation about the tea, and when, basket +in hand, the good man sallied forth for the desired +viands, Mrs. Garrison, having made a hasty toilet, came +<a name="Page_129"></a>down to welcome her guests. She was as genial +and +self-possessed as if all things had been prepared. She +made no apologies for what was lacking in the general +appearance of the house nor in the variety of the <i>menu</i>—it was +sufficient for her to know that Mr. Garrison +was happy in feeling free to invite his friends. The impromptu +meal was excellent, and we had a most +enjoyable evening. I have no doubt that Mrs. Garrison +had more real pleasure than if she had been busy all +day making preparations and had been tired out when +her guests arrived.</p> +<p>The anti-slavery conventions and fairs, held every +year during the holidays, brought many charming people +from other States, and made Boston a social center +for the coadjutors of Garrison and Phillips. These conventions +surpassed any meetings I had ever attended; +the speeches were eloquent and the debates earnest and +forcible. Garrison and Phillips were in their prime, and +slavery was a question of national interest. The hall +in which the fairs were held, under the auspices of Mrs. +Chapman and her cohorts, was most artistically decorated. +There one could purchase whatever the fancy +could desire, for English friends, stimulated by the +appeals of Harriet Martineau and Elizabeth Pease, used +to send boxes of beautiful things, gathered from all +parts of the Eastern Continent. There, too, one could +get a most <i>recherché</i> luncheon in the society of the +literati of Boston; for, however indifferent many were +to slavery <i>per se</i>, they enjoyed these fairs, and all +classes flocked there till far into the night. It was a +kind of ladies' exchange for the holiday week, where +each one was sure to meet her friends. The fair and the +annual convention, coming in succession, intensified +<a name="Page_130"></a>the interest in both. I never grew weary of the +conventions, +though I attended all the sessions, lasting, +sometimes, until eleven o'clock at night. The fiery eloquence +of the abolitionists, the amusing episodes that +occurred when some crank was suppressed and borne +out on the shoulders of his brethren, gave sufficient +variety to the proceedings to keep the interest up to +high-water mark.</p> +<p>There was one old man dressed in white, carrying a +scythe, who imagined himself the personification of +"Time," though called "Father Lampson." Occasionally +he would bubble over with some prophetic +vision, and, as he could not be silenced, he was carried +out. He usually made himself as limp as possible, +which added to the difficulty of his exit and the amusement +of the audience. A ripple of merriment would +unsettle, for a moment, even the dignity of the platform +when Abigail Folsom, another crank, would shout +from the gallery, "Stop not, my brother, on the order +of your going, but go." The abolitionists were making +the experiment, at this time, of a free platform, +allowing everyone to speak as moved by the spirit, but +they soon found that would not do, as those evidently +moved by the spirit of mischief were quite as apt to air +their vagaries as those moved by the spirit of truth.</p> +<p>However, the Garrisonian platform always maintained +a certain degree of freedom outside its regular +programme, and, although this involved extra +duty in suppressing cranks, yet the meeting gained +enthusiasm by some good spontaneous speaking on +the floor as well as on the platform. A number of +immense mass meetings were held in Faneuil Hall, a +large, dreary place, with its bare walls and innumerable +<a name="Page_131"></a>dingy windows. The only attempt at an ornament +was +the American eagle, with its wings spread and claws +firmly set, in the middle of the gallery. The gilt was +worn off its beak, giving it the appearance, as Edmund +Quincy said, of having a bad cold in the head.</p> +<p>This old hall was sacred to so many memories connected +with the early days of the Revolution that it +was a kind of Mecca for the lovers of liberty visiting +Boston. The anti-slavery meetings held there were +often disturbed by mobs that would hold the most +gifted orator at bay hour after hour, and would listen +only to the songs of the Hutchinson family. Although +these songs were a condensed extract of the whole +anti-slavery constitution and by-laws, yet the mob was +as peaceful under these paeans to liberty as a child under +the influence of an anodyne. What a welcome and +beautiful vision that was when the four brothers, +in blue broadcloth and white collars, turned down <i>à +la</i> Byron, and little sister Abby in silk, soft lace, and blue +ribbon, appeared on the platform to sing their quaint +ballads of freedom! Fresh from the hills of New Hampshire, +they looked so sturdy, so vigorous, so pure, so +true that they seemed fitting representatives of all the +cardinal virtues, and even a howling mob could not +resist their influence. Perhaps, after one of their ballads, +the mob would listen five minutes to Wendell Phillips +or Garrison until he gave them some home thrusts, +when all was uproar again. The Northern merchants +who made their fortunes out of Southern cotton, the +politicians who wanted votes, and the ministers who +wanted to keep peace in the churches, were all as much +opposed to the anti-slavery agitation as were the slaveholders +themselves. These were the classes the mob +<a name="Page_132"></a>represented, though seemingly composed of +gamblers, +liquor dealers, and demagogues. For years the anti-slavery +struggle at the North was carried on against +statecraft, priestcraft, the cupidity of the moneyed +classes, and the ignorance of the masses, but, in spite +of all these forces of evil, it triumphed at last.</p> +<p>I was in Boston at the time that Lane and Wright, +some metaphysical Englishmen, and our own Alcott +held their famous philosophical conversations, in which +Elizabeth Peabody took part. I went to them regularly. +I was ambitious to absorb all the wisdom I +could, but, really, I could not give an intelligent report +of the points under discussion at any sitting. +Oliver Johnson asked me, one day, if I enjoyed them. +I thought, from a twinkle in his eye, that he thought I +did not, so I told him I was ashamed to confess that I +did not know what they were talking about. He said, +"Neither do I,—very few of their hearers do,—so you +need not be surprised that they are incomprehensible +to you, nor think less of your own capacity."</p> +<p>I was indebted to Mr. Johnson for several of the +greatest pleasures I enjoyed in Boston. He escorted +me to an entire course of Theodore Parker's lectures, +given in Marlborough Chapel. This was soon after the +great preacher had given his famous sermon on "The +Permanent and Transient in Religion," when he was +ostracised, even by the Unitarians, for his radical utterances, +and not permitted to preach in any of their pulpits. +His lectures were deemed still more heterodox +than that sermon. He shocked the orthodox churches +of that day—more, even, than Ingersoll has in our +times.</p> +<p>The lectures, however, were so soul-satisfying to me +<a name="Page_133"></a>that I was surprised at the bitter criticisms I +heard expressed. +Though they were two hours long, I never +grew weary, and, when the course ended, I said to +Mr. Johnson:</p> +<p>"I wish I could hear them over again."</p> +<p>"Well, you can," said he, "Mr. Parker is to repeat +them in Cambridgeport, beginning next week." Accordingly +we went there and heard them again with +equal satisfaction.</p> +<p>During the winter in Boston I attended all the lectures, +churches, theaters, concerts, and temperance, +peace, and prison-reform conventions within my reach. +I had never lived in such an enthusiastically literary and +reform latitude before, and my mental powers were kept +at the highest tension. We went to Chelsea, for the +summer, and boarded with the Baptist minister, the +Rev. John Wesley Olmstead, afterward editor of <i>The +Watchman and Reflector</i>. He had married my cousin, +Mary Livingston, one of the most lovely, unselfish +characters I ever knew. There I had the opportunity +of meeting several of the leading Baptist ministers in +New England, and, as I was thoroughly imbued with +Parker's ideas, we had many heated discussions on theology. +There, too, I met Orestes Bronson, a remarkably +well-read man, who had gone through every phase +of religious experience from blank atheism to the +bosom of the Catholic Church, where I believe he +found repose at the end of his days. He was so arbitrary +and dogmatic that most people did not like him; +but I appreciated his acquaintance, as he was a liberal +thinker and had a world of information which he readily +imparted to those of a teachable spirit. As I was then +in a hungering, thirsting condition for truth on every +<a name="Page_134"></a>subject, the friendship of such a man was, to +me, an inestimable +blessing. Reading Theodore Parker's lectures, +years afterward, I was surprised to find how little +there was in them to shock anybody—the majority of +thinking people having grown up to them.</p> +<p>While living in Chelsea two years, I used to walk +(there being no public conveyances running on Sunday) +from the ferry to Marlborough Chapel to hear Mr. +Parker preach. It was a long walk, over two miles, and +I was so tired, on reaching the chapel, that I made it a +point to sleep through all the preliminary service, so as +to be fresh for the sermon, as the friend next whom I sat +always wakened me in time. One Sunday, when my +friend was absent, it being a very warm day and I unusually +fatigued, I slept until the sexton informed me +that he was about to close the doors! In an unwary +moment I imparted this fact to my Baptist friends. +They made all manner of fun ever afterward of the +soothing nature of Mr. Parker's theology, and my long +walk, every Sunday, to repose in the shadow of a heterodox +altar. Still, the loss of the sermon was the only +vexatious part of it, and I had the benefit of the walk +and the refreshing slumber, to the music of Mr. Parker's +melodious voice and the deep-toned organ.</p> +<p>Mrs. Oliver Johnson and I spent two days at the +Brook Farm Community when in the height of its prosperity. +There I met the Ripleys,—who were, I believe, +the backbone of the experiment,—William Henry Channing, +Bronson Alcott, Charles A. Dana, Frederick +Cabot, William Chase, Mrs. Horace Greeley, who was +spending a few days there, and many others, whose +names I cannot recall. Here was a charming family +of intelligent men and women, doing their own farm and +<a name="Page_135"></a>house work, with lectures, readings, music, +dancing, and +games when desired; realizing, in a measure, Edward +Bellamy's beautiful vision of the equal conditions of the +human family in the year 2000. The story of the beginning +and end of this experiment of community life +has been told so often that I will simply say that its +failure was a grave disappointment to those most +deeply interested in its success. Mr. Channing told +me, years after, when he was pastor of the Unitarian +church in Rochester, as we were wandering through +Mount Hope one day, that, when the Roxbury community +was dissolved and he was obliged to return to +the old life of competition, he would gladly have been +laid under the sod, as the isolated home seemed so solitary, +silent, and selfish that the whole atmosphere was +oppressive.</p> +<p>In 1843 my father moved to Albany, to establish my +brothers-in-law, Mr. Wilkeson and Mr. McMartin, in +the legal profession. That made Albany the family +rallying point for a few years. This enabled me to +spend several winters at the Capital and to take an +active part in the discussion of the Married Woman's +Property Bill, then pending in the legislature. William +H. Seward, Governor of the State from 1839 to 1843, +recommended the Bill, and his wife, a woman of rare +intelligence, advocated it in society. Together we had +the opportunity of talking with many members, both of +the Senate and the Assembly, in social circles, as well +as in their committee rooms. Bills were pending from +1836 until 1848, when the measure finally passed.</p> +<p>My second son was born in Albany, in March, 1844, +under more favorable auspices than the first, as I knew, +then, what to do with a baby. Returning to Chelsea +<a name="Page_136"></a>we commenced housekeeping, which afforded me +another +chapter of experience. A new house, newly furnished, +with beautiful views of Boston Bay, was all I +could desire. Mr. Stanton announced to me, in starting, +that his business would occupy all his time, and +that I must take entire charge of the housekeeping. +So, with two good servants and two babies under my +sole supervision, my time was pleasantly occupied.</p> +<p>When first installed as mistress over an establishment, +one has that same feeling of pride and satisfaction +that a young minister must have in taking charge +of his first congregation. It is a proud moment in a +woman's life to reign supreme within four walls, to be +the one to whom all questions of domestic pleasure and +economy are referred, and to hold in her hand that +little family book in which the daily expenses, the outgoings +and incomings, are duly registered. I studied +up everything pertaining to housekeeping, and enjoyed +it all. Even washing day—that day so many people +dread—had its charms for me. The clean clothes on +the lines and on the grass looked so white, and smelled +so sweet, that it was to me a pretty sight to contemplate. +I inspired my laundress with an ambition to +have her clothes look white and to get them out earlier +than our neighbors, and to have them ironed and put +away sooner.</p> +<p>As Mr. Stanton did not come home to dinner, we +made a picnic of our noon meal on Mondays, and +all thoughts and energies were turned to speed the +washing. No unnecessary sweeping or dusting, no +visiting nor entertaining angels unawares on that day—it +was held sacred to soap suds, blue-bags, and clotheslines. +The children, only, had no deviation in the regu<a name="Page_137"></a>larity +of their lives. They had their drives and walks, +their naps and rations, in quantity and time, as usual. I +had all the most approved cook books, and spent half +my time preserving, pickling, and experimenting in new +dishes. I felt the same ambition to excel in all departments +of the culinary art that I did at school in the +different branches of learning. My love of order and +cleanliness was carried throughout, from parlor to +kitchen, from the front door to the back. I gave a man +an extra shilling to pile the logs of firewood with their +smooth ends outward, though I did not have them +scoured white, as did our Dutch grandmothers. I +tried, too, to give an artistic touch to everything—the +dress of my children and servants included. My dining +table was round, always covered with a clean cloth of a +pretty pattern and a centerpiece of flowers in their season, +pretty dishes, clean silver, and set with neatness +and care. I put my soul into everything, and hence +enjoyed it. I never could understand how housekeepers +could rest with rubbish all round their back +doors; eggshells, broken dishes, tin cans, and old shoes +scattered round their premises; servants ragged and +dirty, with their hair in papers, and with the kitchen and +dining room full of flies. I have known even artists to +be indifferent to their personal appearance and their +surroundings. Surely a mother and child, tastefully +dressed, and a pretty home for a framework, is, as a picture, +even more attractive than a domestic scene hung +on the wall. The love of the beautiful can be illustrated +as well in life as on canvas. There is such a +struggle among women to become artists that I really +wish some of their gifts could be illustrated in clean, +orderly, beautiful homes.</p> +<p><a name="Page_138"></a>Our house was pleasantly situated on the +Chelsea +Hills, commanding a fine view of Boston, the harbor, +and surrounding country. There, on the upper piazza, +I spent some of the happiest days of my life, enjoying, +in turn, the beautiful outlook, my children, and my +books. Here, under the very shadow of Bunker Hill +Monument, my third son was born. Shortly after this +Gerrit Smith and his wife came to spend a few days +with us, so this boy, much against my will, was named +after my cousin. I did not believe in old family names +unless they were peculiarly euphonious. I had a list +of beautiful names for sons and daughters, from which +to designate each newcomer; but, as yet, not one on +my list had been used. However, I put my foot down, +at No. 4, and named him Theodore, and, thus far, he +has proved himself a veritable "gift of God," doing +his uttermost, in every way possible, to fight the battle +of freedom for woman.</p> +<p>During the visit of my cousin I thought I would +venture on a small, select dinner party, consisting of +the Rev. John Pierpont and his wife, Charles Sumner, +John G. Whittier, and Joshua Leavitt. I had a new +cook, Rose, whose viands, thus far, had proved delicious, +so I had no anxiety on that score. But, unfortunately, +on this occasion I had given her a bottle +of wine for the pudding sauce and whipped cream, of +which she imbibed too freely, and hence there were +some glaring blunders in the <i>menu</i> that were exceedingly +mortifying. As Mr. Smith and my husband were +both good talkers, I told them they must cover all defects +with their brilliant conversation, which they promised +to do.</p> +<p>Rose had all the points of a good servant, phreno<a name="Page_139"></a>logically +and physiologically. She had a large head, +with great bumps of caution and order, her eyes were +large and soft and far apart. In selecting her, scientifically, +I had told my husband, in triumph, several +times what a treasure I had found. Shortly after dinner, +one evening when I was out, she held the baby +while the nurse was eating her supper, and carelessly +burned his foot against the stove. Then Mr. Stanton +suggested that, in selecting the next cook, I +would better not trust to science, but inquire of the +family where she lived as to her practical virtues. Poor +Rose! she wept over her lapses when sober, and made +fair promises for the future, but I did not dare to trust +her, so we parted. The one drawback to the joys of +housekeeping was then, as it is now, the lack of faithful, +competent servants. The hope of co-operative housekeeping, +in the near future, gives us some promise of a +more harmonious domestic life.</p> +<p>One of the books in my library I value most highly +is the first volume of Whittier's poems, published in +1838, "Dedicated to Henry B. Stanton, as a token of +the author's personal friendship, and of his respect for +the unreserved devotion of exalted talents to the cause +of humanity and freedom." Soon after our marriage +we spent a few days with our gifted Quaker poet, on +his farm in Massachusetts.</p> +<p>I shall never forget those happy days in June; the +long walks and drives, and talks under the old trees of +anti-slavery experiences, and Whittier's mirth and indignation +as we described different scenes in the +World's Anti-slavery Convention in London. He +laughed immoderately at the Tom Campbell episode. +Poor fellow! he had taken too much wine that day, and +<a name="Page_140"></a>when Whittier's verses, addressed to the +convention, +were read, he criticised them severely, and wound up +by saying that the soul of a poet was not in him. Mr. +Stanton sprang to his feet and recited some of Whittier's +stirring stanzas on freedom, which electrified the +audience, and, turning to Campbell, he said: "What +do you say to that?" "Ah! that's real poetry," he replied. +"And John Greenleaf Whittier is its author," +said Mr. Stanton.</p> +<p>I enjoyed, too, the morning and evening service, +when the revered mother read the Scriptures and +we all bowed our heads in silent worship. There +was, at times, an atmosphere of solemnity pervading +everything, that was oppressive in the midst of +so much that appealed to my higher nature. There +was a shade of sadness in even the smile of the mother +and sister, and a rigid plainness in the house and its +surroundings, a depressed look in Whittier himself that +the songs of the birds, the sunshine, and the bracing +New England air seemed powerless to chase away, +caused, as I afterward heard, by pecuniary embarrassment, +and fears in regard to the delicate health of the +sister. She, too, had rare poetical talent, and in her +Whittier found not only a helpful companion in the +practical affairs of life, but one who sympathized with +him in the highest flights of which his muse was capable. +Their worst fears were realized in the death of the +sister not long after. In his last volume several of her +poems were published, which are quite worthy the place +the brother's appreciation has given them. Whittier's +love and reverence for his mother and sister, so marked +in every word and look, were charming features of his +<a name="Page_141"></a>home life. All his poems to our sex breathe the +same +tender, worshipful sentiments.</p> +<p>Soon after this visit at Amesbury, our noble friend +spent a few days with us in Chelsea, near Boston. One +evening, after we had been talking a long time of the +unhappy dissensions among anti-slavery friends, by way +of dissipating the shadows I opened the piano, and proposed +that we should sing some cheerful songs. "Oh, +no!" exclaimed Mr. Stanton, "do not touch a note; +you will put every nerve of Whittier's body on edge." +It seemed, to me, so natural for a poet to love music +that I was surprised to know that it was a torture to +him.</p> +<p>From our upper piazza we had a fine view of Boston +harbor. Sitting there late one moonlight night, admiring +the outlines of Bunker Hill Monument and the +weird effect of the sails and masts of the vessels lying +in the harbor, we naturally passed from the romance +of our surroundings to those of our lives. I have often +noticed that the most reserved people are apt to grow +confidential at such an hour. It was under such circumstances +that the good poet opened to me a deeply +interesting page of his life, a sad romance of love and +disappointment, that may not yet be told, as some +who were interested in the events are still among the +living.</p> +<p>Whittier's poems were not only one of the most important +factors in the anti-slavery war and victory, but +they have been equally potent in emancipating the +minds of his generation from the gloomy superstitions +of the puritanical religion. Oliver Wendell Holmes, in +his eulogy of Whittier, says that his influence on the re<a + name="Page_142"></a>ligious +thought of the American people has been far +greater than that of the occupant of any pulpit.</p> +<p>As my husband's health was delicate, and the New +England winters proved too severe for him, we left Boston, +with many regrets, and sought a more genial climate +in Central New York.</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_IX"></a> +<h2><a name="Page_143"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> +<h2>THE FIRST WOMAN'S RIGHTS CONVENTION.</h2> +<br> +<p>In the spring of 1847 we moved to Seneca Falls. +Here we spent sixteen years of our married life, and +here our other children—two sons and two daughters—were +born.</p> +<p>Just as we were ready to leave Boston, Mr. and Mrs. +Eaton and their two children arrived from Europe, and +we decided to go together to Johnstown, Mr. Eaton +being obliged to hurry to New York on business, and +Mr. Stanton to remain still in Boston a few months. +At the last moment my nurse decided she could not +leave her friends and go so far away. Accordingly my +sister and I started, by rail, with five children and seventeen +trunks, for Albany, where we rested over night and +part of the next day. We had a very fatiguing journey, +looking after so many trunks and children, for my +sister's children persisted in standing on the platform +at every opportunity, and the younger ones would follow +their example. This kept us constantly on the +watch. We were thankful when safely landed once +more in the old homestead in Johnstown, where we +arrived at midnight. As our beloved parents had received +no warning of our coming, the whole household +was aroused to dispose of us. But now in safe harbor, +'mid familiar scenes and pleasant memories, our slumbers +were indeed refreshing. How rapidly one throws +off all care and anxiety under the parental roof, and how +<a name="Page_144"></a>at sea one feels, no matter what the age may be, +when +the loved ones are gone forever and the home of childhood +is but a dream of the past.</p> +<p>After a few days of rest I started, alone, for my new +home, quite happy with the responsibility of repairing +a house and putting all things in order. I was already +acquainted with many of the people and the surroundings +in Seneca Falls, as my sister, Mrs. Bayard, had +lived there several years, and I had frequently made her +long visits. We had quite a magnetic circle of reformers, +too, in central New York. At Rochester were +William Henry Channing, Frederick Douglass, the +Anthonys, Posts, Hallowells, Stebbins,—some grand +old Quaker families at Farmington,—the Sedgwicks, +Mays, Mills, and Matilda Joslyn Gage at Syracuse; Gerrit +Smith at Peterboro, and Beriah Green at Whitesboro.</p> +<p>The house we were to occupy had been closed for +some years and needed many repairs, and the grounds, +comprising five acres, were overgrown with weeds. +My father gave me a check and said, with a smile, "You +believe in woman's capacity to do and dare; now go +ahead and put your place in order." After a minute +survey of the premises and due consultation with one or +two sons of Adam, I set the carpenters, painters, paper-hangers, +and gardeners at work, built a new kitchen and +woodhouse, and in one month took possession. Having +left my children with my mother, there were no impediments +to a full display of my executive ability. +In the purchase of brick, timber, paint, etc., and +in making bargains with workmen, I was in frequent +consultation with Judge Sackett and Mr. Bascom. +The latter was a member of the Constitutional +<a name="Page_145"></a>Convention, then in session in Albany, and as he +used to +walk down whenever he was at home, to see how my +work progressed, we had long talks, sitting on boxes +in the midst of tools and shavings, on the status of +women. I urged him to propose an amendment to +Article II, Section 3, of the State Constitution, striking +out the word "male," which limits the suffrage to +men. But, while he fully agreed with all I had to say +on the political equality of women, he had not the courage +to make himself the laughing-stock of the convention. +Whenever I cornered him on this point, manlike +he turned the conversation to the painters and carpenters. +However, these conversations had the effect of +bringing him into the first woman's convention, where +he did us good service.</p> +<p>In Seneca Falls my life was comparatively solitary, +and the change from Boston was somewhat depressing. +There, all my immediate friends were reformers, I had +near neighbors, a new home with all the modern conveniences, +and well-trained servants. Here our residence +was on the outskirts of the town, roads very +often muddy and no sidewalks most of the way, Mr. +Stanton was frequently from home, I had poor servants, +and an increasing number of children. To keep a house +and grounds in good order, purchase every article for +daily use, keep the wardrobes of half a dozen human +beings in proper trim, take the children to dentists, +shoemakers, and different schools, or find teachers at +home, altogether made sufficient work to keep one brain +busy, as well as all the hands I could impress into the +service. Then, too, the novelty of housekeeping had +passed away, and much that was once attractive in +domestic life was now irksome. I had so many cares +<a name="Page_146"></a>that the company I needed for intellectual +stimulus was +a trial rather than a pleasure.</p> +<p>There was quite an Irish settlement at a short +distance, and continual complaints were coming +to me that my boys threw stones at their pigs, +cows, and the roofs of their houses. This involved +constant diplomatic relations in the settlement +of various difficulties, in which I was so successful +that, at length, they constituted me a kind of +umpire in all their own quarrels. If a drunken +husband was pounding his wife, the children would +run for me. Hastening to the scene of action, I would +take Patrick by the collar, and, much to his surprise +and shame, make him sit down and promise to behave +himself. I never had one of them offer the least resistance, +and in time they all came to regard me +as one having authority. I strengthened my influence +by cultivating good feeling. I lent the men +papers to read, and invited their children into our +grounds; giving them fruit, of which we had abundance, +and my children's old clothes, books, and toys. I was +their physician, also—with my box of homeopathic +medicines I took charge of the men, women, and children +in sickness. Thus the most amicable relations +were established, and, in any emergency, these poor +neighbors were good friends and always ready to serve +me.</p> +<p>But I found police duty rather irksome, especially +when called out dark nights to prevent drunken fathers +from disturbing their sleeping children, or to minister +to poor mothers in the pangs of maternity. Alas! alas! +who can measure the mountains of sorrow and suffering +endured in unwelcome motherhood in the abodes of +<a name="Page_147"></a>ignorance, poverty, and vice, where +terror-stricken +women and children are the victims of strong men +frenzied with passion and intoxicating drink?</p> +<p>Up to this time life had glided by with comparative +ease, but now the real struggle was upon me. My +duties were too numerous and varied, and none sufficiently +exhilarating or intellectual to bring into play +my higher faculties. I suffered with mental hunger, +which, like an empty stomach, is very depressing. I had +books, but no stimulating companionship. To add to +my general dissatisfaction at the change from Boston, +I found that Seneca Falls was a malarial region, and in +due time all the children were attacked with chills and +fever which, under homeopathic treatment in those +days, lasted three months. The servants were afflicted +in the same way. Cleanliness, order, the love of the +beautiful and artistic, all faded away in the struggle to +accomplish what was absolutely necessary from hour to +hour. Now I understood, as I never had before, how +women could sit down and rest in the midst of general +disorder. Housekeeping, under such conditions, was +impossible, so I packed our clothes, locked up the +house, and went to that harbor of safety, home, as I did +ever after in stress of weather.</p> +<p>I now fully understood the practical difficulties most +women had to contend with in the isolated household, +and the impossibility of woman's best development if +in contact, the chief part of her life, with servants and +children. Fourier's phalansterie community life and +co-operative households had a new significance for me. +Emerson says, "A healthy discontent is the first step +to progress." The general discontent I felt with +woman's portion as wife, mother, housekeeper, physi<a name="Page_148"></a>cian, +and spiritual guide, the chaotic conditions into +which everything fell without her constant supervision, +and the wearied, anxious look of the majority of +women impressed me with a strong feeling that some +active measures should be taken to remedy the wrongs +of society in general, and of women in particular. My +experience at the World's Anti-slavery Convention, +all I had read of the legal status of women, and the +oppression I saw everywhere, together swept across my +soul, intensified now by many personal experiences. It +seemed as if all the elements had conspired to impel +me to some onward step. I could not see what to do +or where to begin—my only thought was a public meeting +for protest and discussion.</p> +<p>In this tempest-tossed condition of mind I received +an invitation to spend the day with Lucretia Mott, at +Richard Hunt's, in Waterloo. There I met several +members of different families of Friends, earnest, +thoughtful women. I poured out, that day, the torrent +of my long-accumulating discontent, with such vehemence +and indignation that I stirred myself, as well +as the rest of the party, to do and dare anything. My +discontent, according to Emerson, must have been +healthy, for it moved us all to prompt action, and we +decided, then and there, to call a "Woman's Rights +Convention." We wrote the call that evening and +published it in the <i>Seneca County Courier</i> the next day, +the 14th of July, 1848, giving only five days' notice, +as the convention was to be held on the 19th and 20th. +The call was inserted without signatures,—in fact it +was a mere announcement of a meeting,—but the chief +movers and managers were Lucretia Mott, Mary Ann +McClintock, Jane Hunt, Martha C. Wright, and my<a name="Page_149"></a>self. +The convention, which was held two days in the +Methodist Church, was in every way a grand success. +The house was crowded at every session, the speaking +good, and a religious earnestness dignified all the proceedings.</p> +<p>These were the hasty initiative steps of "the most +momentous reform that had yet been launched on the +world—the first organized protest against the injustice +which had brooded for ages over the character and +destiny of one-half the race." No words could express +our astonishment on finding, a few days afterward, that +what seemed to us so timely, so rational, and so sacred, +should be a subject for sarcasm and ridicule to the entire +press of the nation. With our Declaration of Rights +and Resolutions for a text, it seemed as if every man +who could wield a pen prepared a homily on "woman's +sphere." All the journals from Maine to Texas +seemed to strive with each other to see which could +make our movement appear the most ridiculous. The +anti-slavery papers stood by us manfully and so did +Frederick Douglass, both in the convention and in his +paper, <i>The North Star</i>, but so pronounced was the popular +voice against us, in the parlor, press, and pulpit, that +most of the ladies who had attended the convention +and signed the declaration, one by one, withdrew their +names and influence and joined our persecutors. Our +friends gave us the cold shoulder and felt themselves +disgraced by the whole proceeding.</p> +<p>If I had had the slightest premonition of all that +was to follow that convention, I fear I should not have +had the courage to risk it, and I must confess that it +was with fear and trembling that I consented to attend +another, one month afterward, in Rochester. Fortu<a name="Page_150"></a>nately, +the first one seemed to have drawn all the fire, +and of the second but little was said. But we had set +the ball in motion, and now, in quick succession, conventions +were held in Ohio, Indiana, Massachusetts, +Pennsylvania, and in the City of New York, and have +been kept up nearly every year since.</p> +<p>The most noteworthy of the early conventions were +those held in Massachusetts, in which such men as Garrison, +Phillips, Channing, Parker, and Emerson took +part. It was one of these that first attracted the attention +of Mrs. John Stuart Mill, and drew from her pen +that able article on "The Enfranchisement of Woman," +in the <i>Westminster Review</i> of October, 1852.</p> +<p>The same year of the convention, the Married +Woman's Property Bill, which had given rise to some +discussion on woman's rights in New York, had passed +the legislature. This encouraged action on the part +of women, as the reflection naturally arose that, if the +men who make the laws were ready for some onward +step, surely the women themselves should express some +interest in the legislation. Ernestine L. Rose, Paulina +Wright (Davis), and I had spoken before committees +of the legislature years before, demanding equal property +rights for women. We had circulated petitions +for the Married Woman's Property Bill for many +years, and so also had the leaders of the Dutch aristocracy, +who desired to see their life-long accumulations +descend to their daughters and grandchildren rather +than pass into the hands of dissipated, thriftless sons-in-law. +Judge Hertell, Judge Fine, and Mr. Geddes of +Syracuse prepared and championed the several bills, at +different times, before the legislature. Hence the demands +made in the convention were not entirely new +<a name="Page_151"></a>to the reading and thinking public of New +York—the +first State to take any action on the question. As New +York was the first State to put the word "male" in +her constitution in 1778, it was fitting that she should +be first in more liberal legislation. The effect of the +convention on my own mind was most salutary. The +discussions had cleared my ideas as to the primal steps +to be taken for woman's enfranchisement, and the opportunity +of expressing myself fully and freely on a +subject I felt so deeply about was a great relief. I think +all women who attended the convention felt better for +the statement of their wrongs, believing that the first +step had been taken to right them.</p> +<p>Soon after this I was invited to speak at several +points in the neighborhood. One night, in the Quaker +Meeting House at Farmington, I invited, as usual, discussion +and questions when I had finished. We all +waited in silence for a long time; at length a middle-aged +man, with a broad-brimmed hat, arose and responded +in a sing-song tone: "All I have to say is, if a +hen can crow, let her crow," emphasizing "crow" with +an upward inflection on several notes of the gamut. +The meeting adjourned with mingled feelings of surprise +and merriment. I confess that I felt somewhat chagrined +in having what I considered my unanswerable +arguments so summarily disposed of, and the serious +impression I had made on the audience so speedily dissipated. +The good man intended no disrespect, as he +told me afterward. He simply put the whole argument +in a nutshell: "Let a woman do whatever she +can."</p> +<p>With these new duties and interests, and a broader +outlook on human life, my petty domestic annoyances +<a name="Page_152"></a>gradually took a subordinate place. Now I began +to +write articles for the press, letters to conventions held +in other States, and private letters to friends, to arouse +them to thought on this question.</p> +<p>The pastor of the Presbyterian Church, Mr. Bogue, +preached several sermons on Woman's Sphere, criticising +the action of the conventions in Seneca Falls and +Rochester. Elizabeth McClintock and I took notes +and answered him in the county papers. Gradually we +extended our labors and attacked our opponents in the +New York <i>Tribune</i>, whose columns were open to us in +the early days, Mr. Greeley being, at that time, one of +our most faithful champions.</p> +<p>In answering all the attacks, we were compelled to +study canon and civil law, constitutions, Bibles, science, +philosophy, and history, sacred and profane. Now my +mind, as well as my hands, was fully occupied, and instead +of mourning, as I had done, over what I had lost +in leaving Boston, I tried in every way to make the +most of life in Seneca Falls. Seeing that elaborate refreshments +prevented many social gatherings, I often +gave an evening entertainment without any. I told +the young people, whenever they wanted a little dance +or a merry time, to make our house their rallying point, +and I would light up and give them a glass of water +and some cake. In that way we had many pleasant +informal gatherings. Then, in imitation of Margaret +Fuller's Conversationals, we started one which lasted +several years. We selected a subject each week on +which we all read and thought; each, in turn, preparing +an essay ten minutes in length.</p> +<p>These were held, at different homes, Saturday of each +week. On coming together we chose a presiding offi<a name="Page_153"></a>cer +for the evening, who called the meeting to order, +and introduced the essayist. That finished, he asked +each member, in turn, what he or she had read or +thought on the subject, and if any had criticisms to +make on the essay. Everyone was expected to contribute +something. Much information was thus gained, +and many spicy discussions followed. All the ladies, +as well as the gentlemen, presided in turn, and so became +familiar with parliamentary rules. The evening +ended with music, dancing, and a general chat. In this +way we read and thought over a wide range of subjects +and brought together the best minds in the community. +Many young men and women who did not +belong to what was considered the first circle,—for in +every little country village there is always a small +clique that constitutes the aristocracy,—had the advantages +of a social life otherwise denied them. I think +that all who took part in this Conversation Club would +testify to its many good influences.</p> +<p>I had three quite intimate young friends in the +village who spent much of their spare time with +me, and who added much to my happiness: Frances +Hoskins, who was principal of the girls' department +in the academy, with whom I discussed +politics and religion; Mary Bascom, a good talker +on the topics of the day, and Mary Crowninshield, +who played well on the piano. As I was very fond of +music, Mary's coming was always hailed with delight. +Her mother, too, was a dear friend of mine, a woman of +rare intelligence, refinement, and conversational talent. +She was a Schuyler, and belonged to the Dutch aristocracy +in Albany. She died suddenly, after a short +illness. I was with her in the last hours and held her +<a name="Page_154"></a>hand until the gradually fading spark of life +went out. +Her son is Captain A.S. Crowninshield of our Navy.</p> +<p>My nearest neighbors were a very agreeable, intelligent +family of sons and daughters. But I always +felt that the men of that household were given to +domineering. As the mother was very amiable and +self-sacrificing, the daughters found it difficult to +rebel. One summer, after general house-cleaning, when +fresh paint and paper had made even the kitchen look +too dainty for the summer invasion of flies, the queens +of the household decided to move the sombre cook-stove +into a spacious woodhouse, where it maintained +its dignity one week, in the absence of the head +of the home. The mother and daughters were delighted +with the change, and wondered why they had +not made it before during the summer months. But +their pleasure was shortlived. Father and sons rose +early the first morning after his return and moved the +stove back to its old place. When the wife and daughters +came down to get their breakfast (for they did all +their own work) they were filled with grief and disappointment. +The breakfast was eaten in silence, the +women humbled with a sense of their helplessness, and +the men gratified with a sense of their power. These +men would probably all have said "home is woman's +sphere," though they took the liberty of regulating +everything in her sphere.</p> +<div style="text-align: center;"><a name="img006"></a><img + style="width: 400px; height: 572px;" alt="MRS. STANTON AND SON, 1854." + title="MRS. STANTON AND SON, 1854." src="image/006.jpg"></div> +<hr style="width: 65%;"><a name="CHAPTER_X"></a> +<h2><a name="Page_155"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> +<h2>SUSAN B. ANTHONY.</h2> +<br> +<p style="text-align: center;"><a name="img007"></a><img + style="width: 400px; height: 619px;" + alt="Susan B. Anthony 1820-Feb. 15, 1858—" + title="Susan B. Anthony 1820-Feb. 15, 1858—" src="image/007.jpg"><br> +</p> +<p style="text-align: left;">The reports of the conventions held in +Seneca Falls +and Rochester, N.Y., in 1848, attracted the attention +of one destined to take a most important part +in the new movement—Susan B. Anthony, who, for her +courage and executive ability, was facetiously called +by William Henry Channing, the Napoleon of our +struggle. At this time she was teaching in the academy +at Canajoharie, a little village in the beautiful valley +of the Mohawk.</p> +<p>"The Woman's Declaration of Independence" issued +from those conventions startled and amused her, and +she laughed heartily at the novelty and presumption of +the demand. But, on returning home to spend her vacation, +she was surprised to find that her sober Quaker +parents and sister, having attended the Rochester +meetings, regarded them as very profitable and interesting, +and the demands made as proper and reasonable. +She was already interested in the anti-slavery +and temperance reforms, was an active member of an +organization called "The Daughters of Temperance," +and had spoken a few times in their public meetings. +But the new gospel of "Woman's Rights," found a +ready response in her mind, and, from that time, her +best efforts have been given to the enfranchisement of +women.</p> +<p>As, from this time, my friend is closely connected +<a name="Page_156"></a>with my narrative and will frequently appear +therein, +a sketch of her seems appropriate.</p> +<p>Lord Bacon has well said: "He that hath wife and +children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are +impediments to great enterprises either of virtue or +mischief. Certainly the best works, and of greatest +merit for the public, have proceeded from the unmarried +or childless men; which, both in affection and +means, have married and endowed the public."</p> +<p>This bit of Baconian philosophy, as alike applicable +to women, was the subject, not long since, of a conversation +with a remarkably gifted Englishwoman. She +was absorbed in many public interests and had conscientiously +resolved never to marry, lest the cares necessarily +involved in matrimony should make inroads +upon her time and thought, to the detriment of the +public good. "Unless," said she, "some women dedicate +themselves to the public service, society is robbed +of needed guardians for the special wants of the weak +and unfortunate. There should be, in the secular +world, certain orders corresponding in a measure to the +grand sisterhoods of the Catholic Church, to the members +of which, as freely as to men, all offices, civic and +ecclesiastical, should be open." That this ideal will be +realized may be inferred from the fact that exceptional +women have, in all ages, been leaders in great projects +of charity and reform, and that now many stand waiting +only the sanction of their century, ready for wide +altruistic labors.</p> +<p>The world has ever had its vestal virgins, its holy +women, mothers of ideas rather than of men; its Marys, +as well as its Marthas, who, rather than be busy +housewives, preferred to sit at the feet of divine wis<a name="Page_157"></a>dom, +and ponder the mysteries of the unknown. All +hail to Maria Mitchell, Harriet Hosmer, Charlotte +Cushman, Alice and Phoebe Gary, Louisa Alcott, Dr. +Elizabeth Blackwell, Frances Willard, and Clara Barton! +All honor to the noble women who have devoted earnest +lives to the intellectual and moral needs of mankind!</p> +<p>Susan B. Anthony was of sturdy New England +stock, and it was at the foot of Old Greylock, South +Adams, Mass., that she gave forth her first rebellious +cry. There the baby steps were taken, and +at the village school the first stitches were learned, +and the A B C duly mastered. When five winters +had passed over Susan's head, there came a time +of great domestic commotion, and, in her small +way, the child seized the idea that permanence is not +the rule of life. The family moved to Battenville, N.Y., +where Mr. Anthony became one of the wealthiest +men in Washington County. Susan can still recall the +stately coldness of the great house—how large the bare +rooms, with their yellow-painted floors, seemed, in contrast +with her own diminutiveness, and the outlook of +the schoolroom where for so many years, with her +brothers and sisters, she pursued her studies under +private tutors.</p> +<p>Mr. Anthony was a stern Hicksite Quaker. In +Susan's early life he objected on principle to all forms +of frivolous amusement, such as music, dancing, or novel +reading, while games and even pictures were regarded +as meaningless luxuries. Such puritanical convictions +might have easily degenerated into mere cant; but +underlying all was a broad and firm basis of wholesome +respect for individual freedom and a brave +adherence to truth. He was a man of good busi<a name="Page_158"></a>ness +capacity, and a thorough manager of his wide +and lucrative interests. He saw that compensation +and not chance ruled in the commercial world, +and he believed in the same just, though often +severe, law in the sphere of morals. Such a man +was not apt to walk humbly in the path mapped out +by his religious sect. He early offended by choosing a +Baptist for a wife. For this first offense he was "disowned," +and, according to Quaker usage, could only be +received into fellowship again by declaring himself +"sorry" for his crime in full meeting. He was full +of devout thankfulness for the good woman by +his side, and destined to be thankful to the very +end for this companion, so calm, so just, so far-seeing. +He rose in meeting, and said he was +"sorry" that the rules of the society were such +that, in marrying the woman he loved, he had committed +offense! He admitted that he was "sorry" for +something, so was taken back into the body of the faithful! +But his faith had begun to weaken in many minor +points of discipline. His coat soon became a cause of +offense and called forth another reproof from those +buttoned up in conforming garments. The petty forms +of Quakerism began to lose their weight with him altogether, +and he was finally disowned for allowing the +village youth to be taught dancing in an upper room +of his dwelling. He was applied to for this favor +on the ground that young men were under great temptation +to drink if the lessons were given in the hotel; +and, being a rigid temperance man, he readily consented, +though his principles, in regard to dancing, +would not allow his own sons and daughters to join in +the amusement. But the society could accept no such +<a name="Page_159"></a>discrimination in what it deemed sin, nor such +compromise +with worldly frivolity, and so Mr. Anthony was +seen no more in meeting. But, in later years, in Rochester +he was an attentive listener to Rev. William Henry +Channing.</p> +<p>The effect of all this on Susan is the question of interest. +No doubt she early weighed the comparative +moral effects of coats cut with capes and those cut +without, of purely Quaker conjugal love and that deteriorated +with Baptist affection. Susan had an +earnest soul and a conscience tending to morbidity; but +a strong, well-balanced body and simple family life +soothed her too active moral nature and gave the +world, instead of a religious fanatic, a sincere, concentrated +worker. Every household art was taught her +by her mother, and so great was her ability that the +duty demanding especial care was always given into her +hands. But ever, amid school and household tasks, +her day-dream was that, in time, she might be a "high-seat" +Quaker. Each Sunday, up to the time of the +third disobedience, Mr. Anthony went to the Quaker +meeting house, some thirteen miles from home, his +wife and children usually accompanying him, though, +as non-members, they were rigidly excluded from all +business discussions. Exclusion was very pleasant in +the bright days of summer; but, on one occasion in +December, decidedly unpleasant for the seven-year-old +Susan. When the blinds were drawn, at the close of the +religious meeting, and non-members retired, Susan sat +still. Soon she saw a thin old lady with blue goggles +come down from the "high seat." Approaching her, +the Quakeress said softly, "Thee is not a member—thee +must go out." "No; my mother told me not to go +<a name="Page_160"></a>out in the cold," was the child's firm response. +"Yes, +but thee must go out—thee is not a member." "But +my father is a member." "Thee is not a member," and +Susan felt as if the spirit was moving her and soon found +herself in outer coldness. Fingers and toes becoming +numb, and a bright fire in a cottage over the way +beckoning warmly to her, the exile from the chapel +resolved to seek secular shelter. But alas! she was confronted +by a huge dog, and just escaped with whole +skin though capeless jacket. We may be sure there +was much talk, that night, at the home fireside, and the +good Baptist wife declared that no child of hers should +attend meeting again till made a member. Thereafter, +by request of her father, Susan became a member of +the Quaker church.</p> +<p>Later, definite convictions took root in Miss Anthony's +heart. Hers is, indeed, a sincerely religious +nature. To be a simple, earnest Quaker was the +aspiration of her girlhood; but she shrank from adopting +the formal language and plain dress. Dark hours +of conflict were spent over all this, and she interpreted +her disinclination as evidence of unworthiness. Poor +little Susan! As we look back with the knowledge of +our later life, we translate the heart-burnings as unconscious +protests against labeling your free soul, +against testing your reasoning conviction of to-morrow +by any shibboleth of to-day's belief. We +hail this child-intuition as a prophecy of the uncompromising +truthfulness of the mature woman. +Susan Anthony was taught simply that she must +enter into the holy of holies of her own self, meet +herself, and be true to the revelation. She first +found words to express her convictions in listen<a name="Page_161"></a>ing +to Rev. William Henry Channing, whose teaching +had a lasting spiritual influence upon her. To-day +Miss Anthony is an agnostic. As to the nature of the +Godhead and of the life beyond her horizon she does +not profess to know anything. Every energy of her +soul is centered upon the needs of this world. To her, +work is worship. She has not stood aside, shivering in +the cold shadows of uncertainty, but has moved on with +the whirling world, has done the good given her to do, +and thus, in darkest hours, has been sustained by +an unfaltering faith in the final perfection of all things. +Her belief is not orthodox, but it is religious. In +ancient Greece she would have been a Stoic; in the era +of the Reformation, a Calvinist; in King Charles' time, +a Puritan; but in this nineteenth century, by the very +laws of her being, she is a Reformer.</p> +<p>For the arduous work that awaited Miss Anthony her +years of young womanhood had given preparation. +Her father, though a man of wealth, made it a matter of +conscience to train his girls, as well as his boys, to +self-support. Accordingly Susan chose the profession +of teacher, and made her first essay during a summer +vacation in a school her father had established for +the children of his employés. Her success was so +marked, not only in imparting knowledge, but also as +a disciplinarian, that she followed this career steadily for +fifteen years, with the exception of some months given +in Philadelphia to her own training. Of the many +school rebellions which she overcame, one rises before +me, prominent in its ludicrous aspect. This was in the +district school at Center Falls, in the year 1839. Bad +reports were current there of male teachers driven out +by a certain strapping lad. Rumor next told of a +<a name="Page_162"></a>Quaker maiden coming to teach—a Quaker maiden of +peace principles. The anticipated day and Susan arrived. +She looked very meek to the barbarian of +fifteen, so he soon began his antics. He was called to +the platform, told to lay aside his jacket, and, thereupon, +with much astonishment received from the mild +Quaker maiden, with a birch rod applied calmly but +with precision, an exposition of the <i>argumentum ad +hominem</i> based on the <i>a posteriori</i> method of reasoning. +Thus Susan departed from her principles, but not from +the school.</p> +<p>But, before long, conflicts in the outside world disturbed +our young teacher. The multiplication table +and spelling book no longer enchained her thoughts; +larger questions began to fill her mind. About the +year 1850 Susan B. Anthony hid her ferule away. +Temperance, anti-slavery, woman suffrage,—three pregnant +questions,—presented themselves, demanding her +consideration. Higher, ever higher, rose their appeals, +until she resolved to dedicate her energy and thought +to the burning needs of the hour. Owing to early experience +of the disabilities of her sex, the first demand +for equal rights for women found echo in Susan's heart. +And, though she was in the beginning startled to hear +that women had actually met in convention, and by +speeches and resolutions had declared themselves man's +peer in political rights, and had urged radical changes +in State constitutions and the whole system of American +jurisprudence; yet the most casual review convinced +her that these claims were but the logical outgrowth +of the fundamental theories of our republic.</p> +<p>At this stage of her development I met my future +friend and coadjutor for the first time. How well I +<a name="Page_163"></a>remember the day! George Thompson and William +Lloyd Garrison having announced an anti-slavery meeting +in Seneca Falls, Miss Anthony came to attend it. +These gentlemen were my guests. Walking home, +after the adjournment, we met Mrs. Bloomer and Miss +Anthony on the corner of the street, waiting to greet +us. There she stood, with her good, earnest face and +genial smile, dressed in gray delaine, hat and all the +same color, relieved with pale blue ribbons, the perfection +of neatness and sobriety. I liked her thoroughly, +and why I did not at once invite her home with +me to dinner, I do not know. She accuses me of that +neglect, and has never forgiven me, as she wished to see +and hear all she could of our noble friends. I suppose +my mind was full of what I had heard, or my coming +dinner, or the probable behavior of three mischievous +boys who had been busily exploring the premises while +I was at the meeting.</p> +<p>That I had abundant cause for anxiety in regard +to the philosophical experiments these young savages +might try the reader will admit, when informed +of some of their performances. Henry imagined +himself possessed of rare powers of invention (an ancestral +weakness for generations), and so made a life +preserver of corks, and tested its virtues on his brother, +who was about eighteen months old. Accompanied +by a troop of expectant boys, the baby was drawn +in his carriage to the banks of the Seneca, stripped, the +string of corks tied under his arms, and set afloat in the +river, the philosopher and his satellites, in a rowboat, +watching the experiment. The baby, accustomed to a +morning bath in a large tub, splashed about joyfully, +keeping his head above water. He was as blue as +<a name="Page_164"></a>indigo and as cold as a frog when rescued by his +anxious +mother. The next day the same victimized infant was +seen, by a passing friend, seated on the chimney, on the +highest peak of the house. Without alarming anyone, +the friend hurried up to the housetop and rescued the +child. Another time the three elder brothers entered +into a conspiracy, and locked up the fourth, Theodore, +in the smoke-house. Fortunately, he sounded the +alarm loud and clear, and was set free in safety, whereupon +the three were imprisoned in a garret with two +barred windows. They summarily kicked out the bars, +and, sliding down on the lightning rod, betook themselves +to the barn for liberty. The youngest boy, Gerrit, +then only five years old, skinned his hands in the +descent. This is a fair sample of the quiet happiness I +enjoyed in the first years of motherhood.</p> +<p>It was 'mid such exhilarating scenes that Miss +Anthony and I wrote addresses for temperance, +anti-slavery, educational, and woman's rights conventions. +Here we forged resolutions, protests, +appeals, petitions, agricultural reports, and constitutional +arguments; for we made it a matter +of conscience to accept every invitation to speak on +every question, in order to maintain woman's right to +do so. To this end we took turns on the domestic +watchtowers, directing amusements, settling disputes, +protecting the weak against the strong, and trying to +secure equal rights to all in the home as well as the +nation. I can recall many a stern encounter between +my friend and the young experimenter. It is pleasant +to remember that he never seriously injured any of his +victims, and only once came near fatally shooting himself +with a pistol. The ball went through his hand; +<a name="Page_165"></a>happily a brass button prevented it from +penetrating his +heart.</p> +<p>It is often said, by those who know Miss Anthony +best, that she has been my good angel, always pushing +and goading me to work, and that but for her pertinacity +I should never have accomplished the little I +have. On the other hand it has been said that I forged +the thunderbolts and she fired them. Perhaps all this +is, in a measure, true. With the cares of a large family +I might, in time, like too many women, have become +wholly absorbed in a narrow family selfishness, had not +my friend been continually exploring new fields for +missionary labors. Her description of a body of men +on any platform, complacently deciding questions in +which woman had an equal interest, without an equal +voice, readily roused me to a determination to throw +a firebrand into the midst of their assembly.</p> +<p>Thus, whenever I saw that stately Quaker girl coming +across my lawn, I knew that some happy convocation +of the sons of Adam was to be set by the ears, by +one of our appeals or resolutions. The little portmanteau, +stuffed with facts, was opened, and there we had +what the Rev. John Smith and Hon. Richard Roe had +said: false interpretations of Bible texts, the statistics +of women robbed of their property, shut out of some +college, half paid for their work, the reports of some disgraceful +trial; injustice enough to turn any woman's +thoughts from stockings and puddings. Then we +would get out our pens and write articles for papers, or +a petition to the legislature; indite letters to the faithful, +here and there; stir up the women in Ohio, Pennsylvania, +or Massachusetts; call on <i>The Lily, The Una, +The Liberator, The Standard</i> to remember our wrongs as +<a name="Page_166"></a>well as those of the slave. We never met without +issuing +a pronunciamento on some question. In thought +and sympathy we were one, and in the division of labor +we exactly complemented each other. In writing we +did better work than either could alone. While she is +slow and analytical in composition, I am rapid and synthetic. +I am the better writer, she the better critic. +She supplied the facts and statistics, I the philosophy +and rhetoric, and, together, we have made arguments +that have stood unshaken through the storms of long +years; arguments that no one has answered. Our +speeches may be considered the united product of our +two brains.</p> +<p>So entirely one are we that, in all our associations, +ever side by side on the same platform, not one feeling +of envy or jealousy has ever shadowed our lives. We +have indulged freely in criticism of each other when +alone, and hotly contended whenever we have differed, +but in our friendship of years there has never been the +break of one hour. To the world we always seem to +agree and uniformly reflect each other. Like husband +and wife, each has the feeling that we must have no differences +in public. Thus united, at an early day we began +to survey the state and nation, the future field of +our labors. We read, with critical eyes, the proceedings +of Congress and legislatures, of general assemblies and +synods, of conferences and conventions, and discovered +that, in all alike, the existence of woman was entirely +ignored.</p> +<p>Night after night, by an old-fashioned fireplace, we +plotted and planned the coming agitation; how, when, +and where each entering wedge could be driven, by +which women might be recognized and their rights se<a name="Page_167"></a>cured. +Speedily the State was aflame with disturbances +in temperance and teachers' conventions, and the press +heralded the news far and near that women delegates +had suddenly appeared, demanding admission in men's +conventions; that their rights had been hotly contested +session after session, by liberal men on the one side, the +clergy and learned professors on the other; an overwhelming +majority rejecting the women with terrible anathemas +and denunciations. Such battles were fought +over and over in the chief cities of many of the Northern +States, until the bigotry of men in all the reforms and +professions was thoroughly exposed. Every right +achieved, to enter a college, to study a profession, to +labor in some new industry, or to advocate a reform +measure was contended for inch by inch.</p> +<p>Many of those enjoying all these blessings now complacently +say, "If these pioneers in reform had only +pressed their measures more judiciously, in a more ladylike +manner, in more choice language, with a more +deferential attitude, the gentlemen could not have behaved +so rudely." I give, in these pages, enough of the +characteristics of these women, of the sentiments they +expressed, of their education, ancestry, and position to +show that no power could have met the prejudice and +bigotry of that period more successfully than they did +who so bravely and persistently fought and conquered +them.</p> +<p>Miss Anthony first carried her flag of rebellion +into the State conventions of teachers, and there +fought, almost single-handed, the battle for equality. +At the close of the first decade she had compelled conservatism +to yield its ground so far as to permit women +to participate in all debates, deliver essays, vote, and +<a name="Page_168"></a>hold honored positions as officers. She labored +as sincerely +in the temperance movement, until convinced +that woman's moral power amounted to little as a +civil agent, until backed by ballot and coined into State +law. She still never loses an occasion to defend co-education +and prohibition, and solves every difficulty +with the refrain, "woman suffrage," as persistent as +the "never more" of Poe's raven.</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XI"></a> +<h2><a name="Page_169"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> +<h2>SUSAN B. ANTHONY—<i>Continued</i>.</h2> +<br> +<p>It was in 1852 that anti-slavery, through the eloquent +lips of such men as George Thompson, Phillips, +and Garrison, first proclaimed to Miss Anthony its pressing +financial necessities. To their inspired words she +gave answer, four years afterward, by becoming a regularly +employed agent in the Anti-slavery Society. For +her espoused cause she has always made boldest demands. +In the abolition meetings she used to tell each +class why it should support the movement financially; +invariably calling upon Democrats to give liberally, as +the success of the cause would enable them to cease +bowing the knee to the slave power.</p> +<p>There is scarce a town, however small, from New +York to San Francisco, that has not heard her ringing +voice. Who can number the speeches she has made +on lyceum platforms, in churches, schoolhouses, halls, +barns, and in the open air, with a lumber wagon or a +cart for her rostrum? Who can describe the varied +audiences and social circles she has cheered and interested? +Now we see her on the far-off prairies, entertaining, +with sterling common sense, large gatherings +of men, women, and children, seated on rough boards +in some unfinished building; again, holding public debates +in some town with half-fledged editors and +<a name="Page_170"></a>clergymen; next, sailing up the Columbia River +and, +in hot haste to meet some appointment, jolting over the +rough mountains of Oregon and Washington; and +then, before legislative assemblies, constitutional conventions, +and congressional committees, discussing +with senators and judges the letter and spirit of constitutional +law.</p> +<p>Miss Anthony's style of speaking is rapid and +vehement. In debate she is ready and keen, and she is +always equal to an emergency. Many times in traveling +with her through the West, especially on our first +trip to Kansas and California, we were suddenly called +upon to speak to the women assembled at the stations. +Filled with consternation, I usually appealed to her to +go first; and, without a moment's hesitation, she could +always fill five minutes with some appropriate words +and inspire me with thoughts and courage to follow. +The climax of these occasions was reached in an institution +for the deaf and dumb in Michigan. I had just +said to my friend, "There is one comfort in visiting +this place; we shall not be asked to speak," when the +superintendent, approaching us, said, "Ladies, the +pupils are assembled in the chapel, ready to hear you. +I promised to invite you to speak to them as soon as I +heard you were in town." The possibility of addressing +such an audience was as novel to Miss Anthony as +to me; yet she promptly walked down the aisle to the +platform, as if to perform an ordinary duty, while I, +half distracted with anxiety, wondering by what process +I was to be placed in communication with the deaf +and dumb, reluctantly followed. But the manner was +simple enough, when illustrated. The superintendent, +standing by our side, repeated, in the sign language, +<a name="Page_171"></a>what was said as fast as uttered; and by +laughter, tears, +and applause, the pupils showed that they fully appreciated +the pathos, humor, and argument.</p> +<p>One night, crossing the Mississippi at McGregor, +Iowa, we were icebound in the middle of the river. The +boat was crowded with people, hungry, tired, and cross +with the delay. Some gentlemen, with whom we had +been talking on the cars, started the cry, "Speech on +woman suffrage!" Accordingly, in the middle of the +Mississippi River, at midnight, we presented our claims +to political representation, and debated the question of +universal suffrage until we landed. Our voyagers were +quite thankful that we had shortened the many hours, +and we equally so at having made several converts and +held a convention on the very bosom of the great +"Mother of Waters." Only once in all these wanderings +was Miss Anthony taken by surprise, and that was +on being asked to speak to the inmates of an insane +asylum. "Bless me!" said she, "it is as much as I +can do to talk to the sane! What could I say to an +audience of lunatics?" Her companion, Virginia L. +Minor of St. Louis, replied: "This is a golden moment +for you, the first opportunity you have ever had, +according to the constitutions, to talk to your 'peers,' +for is not the right of suffrage denied to 'idiots, criminals, +lunatics, and women'?"</p> +<p>Much curiosity has been expressed as to the love-life +of Miss Anthony; but, if she has enjoyed or suffered +any of the usual triumphs or disappointments of her +sex, she has not yet vouchsafed this information to her +biographers. While few women have had more sincere +and lasting friendships, or a more extensive correspondence +with a large circle of noble men, yet I +<a name="Page_172"></a>doubt if one of them can boast of having +received from +her any exceptional attention. She has often playfully +said, when questioned on this point, that she could not +consent that the man she loved, described in the Constitution +as a white male, native born, American citizen, +possessed of the right of self-government, eligible +to the office of President of the great Republic, should +unite his destinies in marriage with a political slave +and pariah. "No, no; when I am crowned with all the +rights, privileges, and immunities of a citizen, I may +give some consideration to this social institution; but +until then I must concentrate all my energies on the enfranchisement +of my own sex." Miss Anthony's love-life, +like her religion, has manifested itself in steadfast, +earnest labors for men in general. She has been a +watchful and affectionate daughter, sister, friend, and +those who have felt the pulsations of her great heart +know how warmly it beats for all.</p> +<p>As the custom has long been observed, among married +women, of celebrating the anniversaries of their +wedding-day, quite properly the initiative has been +taken, in late years, of doing honor to the great events +in the lives of single women. Being united in closest +bonds to her profession, Dr. Harriet K. Hunt of Boston +celebrated her twenty-fifth year of faithful services +as a physician by giving to her friends and patrons a +large reception, which she called her silver wedding. +From a feeling of the sacredness of her life work, the +admirers of Susan B. Anthony have been moved to +mark, by reception and convention, her rapid-flowing +years and the passing decades of the suffrage movement. +To the most brilliant occasion of this kind, the +invitation cards were as follows:<a name="Page_173"></a> +</p> +<div class="blkquot"> +<p>The ladies of the Woman's Bureau invite you to a reception on +Tuesday evening, February 15th, to celebrate the fiftieth birthday of +Susan B. Anthony, when her friends will have an opportunity to show +their appreciation of her long services in behalf of woman's +emancipation.</p> +<div style="margin-left: 40px;">No. 49 East 23d St., New York,<br> +<div style="margin-left: 40px;">February 10, 1870.</div> +</div> +<p style="margin-left: 160px; font-weight: bold;">Elizabeth B. Phelps,<br> +Anna B. Darling,<br> +Charlotte Beebe Wilbour.</p> +</div> +<p>In response to the invitation, the parlors of the bureau +were crowded with friends to congratulate Miss Anthony +on the happy event, many bringing valuable +gifts as an expression of their gratitude. Among +other presents were a handsome gold watch and +checks to the amount of a thousand dollars. The +guests were entertained with music, recitations, +the reading of many piquant letters of regret from +distinguished people, and witty rhymes written for +the occasion by the Cary sisters. Miss Anthony +received her guests with her usual straightforward +simplicity, and in a few earnest words expressed +her thanks for the presents and praises showered upon +her. The comments of the leading journals, next day, +were highly complimentary, and as genial as amusing. +All dwelt on the fact that, at last, a woman had arisen +brave enough to assert her right to grow old and openly +declare that half a century had rolled over her head.</p> +<p>Of carefully prepared written speeches Miss Anthony +has made few; but these, by the high praise they +called forth, prove that she can—in spite of her own +declaration to the contrary—put her sterling thoughts +on paper concisely and effectively. After her exhaustive +plea, in 1880, for a Sixteenth Amendment before +<a name="Page_174"></a>the Judiciary Committee of the Senate, Senator +Edmunds +accosted her, as she was leaving the Capitol, and +said he neglected to tell her, in the committee room, +that she had made an argument, no matter what his +personal feelings were as to the conclusions reached, +which was unanswerable—an argument, unlike the +usual platform oratory given at hearings, suited to a +committee of men trained to the law.</p> +<p>It was in 1876 that Miss Anthony gave her much +criticised lecture on "Social Purity" in Boston. As +to the result she felt very anxious; for the intelligence +of New England composed her audience, and it did not +still her heart-beats to see, sitting just in front of the +platform, her revered friend, William Lloyd Garrison. +But surely every fear vanished when she felt the grand +old abolitionist's hand warmly pressing hers, and heard +him say that to listen to no one else would he have had +courage to leave his sick room, and that he felt fully repaid +by her grand speech, which neither in matter nor +manner would he have changed in the smallest particular. +But into Miss Anthony's private correspondence +one must look for examples of her most effective writing. +Verb or substantive is often wanting, but you +can always catch the thought, and will ever find it clear +and suggestive. It is a strikingly strange dialect, but +one that touches, at times, the deepest chords of pathos +and humor, and, when stirred by some great event, is +highly eloquent.</p> +<p>From being the most ridiculed and mercilessly persecuted +woman, Miss Anthony has become the most +honored and respected in the nation. Witness the +praises of press and people, and the enthusiastic ovations +she received on her departure for Europe in +<a name="Page_175"></a>1883. Never were warmer expressions of regret +for +an absence, nor more sincere prayers for a speedy return, +accorded to any American on leaving his native +shores. This slow awaking to the character of her +services shows the abiding sense of justice in the human +soul. Having spent the winter of 1882-83 in Washington, +trying to press to a vote the bill for a Sixteenth +Amendment before Congress, and the autumn in a +vigorous campaign through Nebraska, where a constitutional +amendment to enfranchise women had been +submitted to the people, she felt the imperative need of +an entire change in the current of her thoughts. Accordingly, +after one of the most successful conventions +ever held at the national capital, and a most flattering +ovation in the spacious parlors of the Riggs House, and +a large reception in Philadelphia, she sailed for Europe.</p> +<p>Fortunate in being perfectly well during the entire +voyage, our traveler received perpetual enjoyment in +watching the ever varying sea and sky. To the captain's +merry challenge to find anything so grand as the +ocean, she replied, "Yes, these mighty forces in nature +do indeed fill me with awe; but this vessel, with deep-buried +fires, powerful machinery, spacious decks, and +tapering masts, walking the waves like a thing of life, +and all the work of man, impresses one still more deeply. +Lo! in man's divine creative power is fulfilled the +prophecy, 'Ye shall be as Gods!'"</p> +<p>In all her journeyings through Germany, Italy, and +France, Miss Anthony was never the mere sight-seer, +but always the humanitarian and reformer in traveler's +guise. Few of the great masterpieces of art gave +her real enjoyment. The keen appreciation of the +beauties of sculpture, painting, and architecture, which +<a name="Page_176"></a>one would have expected to find in so deep a +religious +nature, was wanting, warped, no doubt, by her early +Quaker training. That her travels gave her more pain +than pleasure was, perhaps, not so much that she had +no appreciation of aesthetic beauty, but that she quickly +grasped the infinitude of human misery; not because +her soul did not feel the heights to which art had +risen, but that it vibrated in every fiber to the depths +to which mankind had fallen. Wandering through +a gorgeous palace one day, she exclaimed, "What +do you find to admire here? If it were a school +of five hundred children being educated into the +right of self-government I could admire it, too; +but standing for one man's pleasure, I say no!" In the +quarters of one of the devotees, at the old monastery +of the Certosa, at Florence, there lies, on a small table, +an open book, in which visitors register. On the occasion +of Miss Anthony's visit the pen and ink proved +so unpromising that her entire party declined this opportunity +to make themselves famous, but she made the +rebellious pen inscribe, "Perfect equality for women, +civil, political, religious. Susan B. Anthony, U.S.A." +Friends, who visited the monastery next day, reported +that lines had been drawn through this heretical +sentiment.</p> +<p>During her visit at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Sargent, +in Berlin, Miss Anthony quite innocently posted +her letters in the official envelopes of our Suffrage +Association, which bore the usual mottoes, "No +just government can be formed without the consent +of the governed," etc. In a few days an official +brought back a large package, saying, "Such sentiments +are not allowed to pass through the post office." +<a name="Page_177"></a>Probably nothing saved her from arrest as a +socialist, +under the tyrannical police regulations, but the fact that +she was the guest of the Minister Plenipotentiary of the +United States.</p> +<p>My son Theodore wrote of Miss Anthony's visit in +Paris: "I had never before seen her in the role of tourist. +She seemed interested only in historical monuments, +and in the men and questions of the hour. The +galleries of the Louvre had little attraction for her, but +she gazed with deep pleasure at Napoleon's tomb, +Notre Dame, and the ruins of the Tuileries. She was +always ready to listen to discussions on the political +problems before the French people, the prospects of the +Republic, the divorce agitation, and the education of +women. 'I had rather see Jules Ferry than all the +pictures of the Louvre, Luxembourg, and Salon,' she +remarked at table. A day or two later she saw Ferry +at Laboulaye's funeral. The three things which made +the deepest impression on Miss Anthony, during her +stay at Paris, were probably the interment of Laboulaye +(the friend of the United States and of the woman +movement); the touching anniversary demonstration of +the Communists, at the Cemetery of Père La Chaise, +on the very spot where the last defenders of the Commune +of 1871 were ruthlessly shot and buried in a common +grave; and a woman's rights meeting, held in a +little hall in the Rue de Rivoli, at which the brave, far-seeing +Mlle. Hubertine Auchet was the leading spirit."</p> +<p>While on the Continent Miss Anthony experienced +the unfortunate sensation of being deaf and dumb; to +speak and not to be understood, to hear and not to comprehend, +were to her bitter realities. We can imagine +to what desperation she was brought when her Quaker +<a name="Page_178"></a>prudishness could hail an emphatic oath in +English +from a French official with the exclamation, "Well, it +sounds good to hear someone even swear in old Anglo-Saxon!" +After two months of enforced silence, she +was buoyant in reaching the British Islands once more, +where she could enjoy public speaking and general conversation. +Here she was the recipient of many generous +social attentions, and, on May 25, a large public +meeting of representative people, presided over by +Jacob Bright, was called, in our honor, by the National +Association of Great Britain. She spoke on the educational +and political status of women in America, I +of their religious and social position.</p> +<p>Before closing my friend's biography I shall trace two +golden threads in this closely woven life of incident. +One of the greatest services rendered by Miss Anthony +to the suffrage cause was in casting a vote in the Presidential +election of 1872, in order to test the rights of +women under the Fourteenth Amendment. For this +offense the brave woman was arrested, on Thanksgiving +Day, the national holiday handed down to us by Pilgrim +Fathers escaped from England's persecutions. She +asked for a writ of habeas corpus. The writ being flatly +refused, in January, 1873, her counsel gave bonds. The +daring defendant finding, when too late, that this not +only kept her out of jail, but her case out of the Supreme +Court of the United States, regretfully determined +to fight on, and gain the uttermost by a decision +in the United States Circuit Court. Her trial was set +down for the Rochester term in May. Quickly she canvassed +the whole county, laying before every probable +juror the strength of her case. When the time for the +trial arrived, the District Attorney, fearing the result, +<a name="Page_179"></a>if the decision were left to a jury drawn from +Miss Anthony's +enlightened county, transferred the trial to the +Ontario County term, in June, 1873.</p> +<p>It was now necessary to instruct the citizens of another +county. In this task Miss Anthony received valuable +assistance from Matilda Joslyn Gage; and, to meet +all this new expense, financial aid was generously +given, unsolicited, by Thomas Wentworth Higginson, +Gerrit Smith, and other sympathizers. But in +vain was every effort; in vain the appeal of Miss +Anthony to her jurors; in vain the moral influence +of the leading representatives of the bar of Central +New York filling the courtroom, for Judge +Hunt, without precedent to sustain him, declaring it a +case of law and not of fact, refused to give the case to +the jury, reserving to himself final decision. Was it +not an historic scene which was enacted there in that +little courthouse in Canandaigua? All the inconsistencies +were embodied in that Judge, punctilious in manner, +scrupulous in attire, conscientious in trivialities, and +obtuse on great principles, fitly described by Charles +O'Conor—"A very ladylike Judge." Behold him sitting +there, balancing all the niceties of law and equity in +his Old World scales, and at last saying, "The prisoner +will stand up." Whereupon the accused arose. "The +sentence of the court is that you pay a fine of one hundred +dollars and the costs of the prosecution." Then +the unruly defendant answers: "May it please your +Honor, I shall never pay a dollar of your unjust penalty," +and more to the same effect, all of which she has lived +up to. The "ladylike" Judge had gained some insight +into the determination of the prisoner; so, not wishing +to incarcerate her to all eternity, he added gently: +"<a name="Page_180"></a>Madam, the court will not order you committed +until the fine is paid."</p> +<p>It was on the 17th of June that the verdict was given. +On that very day, a little less than a century before, +the brave militia was driven back at Bunker Hill—back, +back, almost wiped out; yet truth was in their ranks, +and justice, too. But how ended that rebellion of weak +colonists? The cause of American womanhood, embodied +for the moment in the liberty of a single individual, +received a rebuff on June 17, 1873; but, just as +surely as our Revolutionary heroes were in the end victorious, +so will the inalienable rights of our heroines of +the nineteenth century receive final vindication.</p> +<p>In his speech of 1880, before the Phi Beta Kappa +Society at Harvard, Wendell Phillips said—what as a +rule is true—that "a reformer, to be conscientious, +must be free from bread-winning." I will open Miss +Anthony's accounts and show that this reformer, +being, perhaps, the exception which proves the +rule, has been consistently and conscientiously in +debt. Turning over her year-books the pages give a +fair record up to 1863. Here began the first herculean +labor. The Woman's Loyal League, sadly in need of +funds, was not an incorporated association, so its secretary +assumed the debts. Accounts here became +quite lamentable, the deficit reaching five thousand +dollars. It must be paid, and, in fact, will be paid. +Anxious, weary hours were spent in crowding the +Cooper Institute, from week to week, with paying audiences, +to listen to such men as Phillips, Curtis, and +Douglass, who contributed their services, and lifted the +secretary out of debt. At last, after many difficulties, +her cash-book of 1863 was honorably pigeon-holed. In +<a name="Page_181"></a>1867 we can read account of herculean labor the +second. Twenty thousand tracts are needed to convert +the voters of Kansas to woman suffrage. Traveling +expenses to Kansas, and the tracts, make the debtor +column overreach the creditor some two thousand dollars. +There is recognition on these pages of more than +one thousand dollars obtained by soliciting advertisements, +but no note is made of the weary, burning July +days spent in the streets of New York to procure this +money, nor of the ready application of the savings made +by petty economies from her salary from the Hovey +Committee.</p> +<p>It would have been fortunate for my brave friend, if +cash-books 1868, 1869, and 1870 had never come down +from their shelves; for they sing and sing, in notes of +debts, till all unite in one vast chorus of far more than +ten thousand dollars. These were the days of the +<i>Revolution</i>, the newspaper, not the war, though it +was warfare for the debt-ridden manager. Several +thousand dollars she paid with money earned by lecturing, +and with money given her for personal use. One +Thanksgiving was, in truth, a time for returning +thanks; for she received, canceled, from her cousin, +Anson Lapham, her note for four thousand dollars. +After the funeral of Paulina Wright Davis, the bereaved +widower pressed into Miss Anthony's hand canceled +notes for five hundred dollars, bearing on the back the +words, "In memory of my beloved wife." One other +note was canceled in recognition of her perfect forgetfulness +of self-interest and ready sacrifice to the needs +of others. When laboring, in 1874, to fill every engagement, +in order to meet her debts, her mother's +sudden illness called her home. Without one selfish +<a name="Page_182"></a>regret, the anxious daughter hastened to +Rochester. +When recovery was certain, and Miss Anthony was +about to return to her fatiguing labors, her mother +gave her, at parting, her note for a thousand dollars, +on which was written, in trembling lines, "In just consideration +of the tender sacrifice made to nurse me in +severe illness." At last all the <i>Revolution</i> debt was +paid, except that due to her generous sister, Mary +Anthony, who used often humorously to assure her she +was a fit subject for the bankrupt act.</p> +<p>There is something humorously pathetic in the death +of the <i>Revolution</i>—that firstborn of Miss Anthony. +Mrs. Laura Curtis Bullard generously assumed the +care of the troublesome child, and, in order to make the +adoption legal, gave the usual consideration—one dollar. +The very night of the transfer Miss Anthony went +to Rochester with the dollar in her pocket, and the little +change left after purchasing her ticket. She arrived +safely with her debts, but nothing more—her pocket +had been picked! Oh, thief, could you but know what +value of faithful work you purloined!</p> +<p>From the close of the year 1876 Miss Anthony's accounts +showed favorable signs as to the credit column. +Indeed, at the end of five years there was a solid balance +of several thousand dollars earned on lecturing tours. +But alas! the accounts grow dim again—in fact the +credit column fades away. "The History of Woman +Suffrage" ruthlessly swallowed up every vestige of Miss +Anthony's bank account. But, in 1886, by the will of +Mrs. Eddy, daughter of Francis Jackson of Boston, +Miss Anthony received twenty-four thousand dollars +for the Woman's Suffrage Movement, which lifted her +out of debt once more.</p> +<p><a name="Page_183"></a>In vain will you search these telltale books +for evidence +of personal extravagance; for, although Miss +Anthony thinks it true economy to buy the best, her +tastes are simple. Is there not something very touching +in the fact that she never bought a book or picture +for her own enjoyment? The meager personal balance-sheets +show four lapses from discipline,—lapses that she +even now regards as ruthless extravagance,—viz.: the +purchase of two inexpensive brooches, a much needed +watch, and a pair of cuffs to match a point-lace collar +presented by a friend. Those interested in Miss Anthony's +personal appearance long ago ceased to trust +her with the purchase-money for any ornament; for, +however firm her resolution to comply with their wish, +the check invariably found its way to the credit column +of those little cash-books as "money received for the +cause." Now, reader, you have been admitted to a +private view of Miss Anthony's financial records, and +you can appreciate her devotion to an idea. Do you not +agree with me that a "bread-winner" can be a conscientious +reformer?</p> +<p>In finishing this sketch of the most intimate friend +I have had for the past forty-five years,—with whom I +have spent weeks and months under the same roof,—I +can truly say that she is the most upright, courageous, +self-sacrificing, magnanimous human being I have ever +known. I have seen her beset on every side with the +most petty annoyances, ridiculed and misrepresented, +slandered and persecuted; I have known women refuse +to take her extended hand; women to whom she +presented copies of "The History of Woman Suffrage," +return it unnoticed; others to keep it without one word +of acknowledgment; others to write most insulting +<a name="Page_184"></a>letters in answer to hers of affectionate +conciliation. +And yet, under all the cross-fires incident to a reform, +never has her hope flagged, her self-respect wavered, +or a feeling of resentment shadowed her mind. Oftentimes, +when I have been sorely discouraged, thinking +that the prolonged struggle was a waste of force which +in other directions might be rich in achievement, with +her sublime faith in humanity, she would breathe into +my soul renewed inspiration, saying, "Pity rather than +blame those who persecute us." So closely interwoven +have been our lives, our purposes, and experiences that, +separated, we have a feeling of incompleteness—united, +such strength of self-assertion that no ordinary obstacles, +difficulties, or dangers ever appear to us insurmountable. +Reviewing the life of Susan B. Anthony, +I ever liken her to the Doric column in Grecian architecture, +so simply, so grandly she stands, free from +every extraneous ornament, supporting her one vast +idea—the enfranchisement of woman.</p> +<p>As our estimate of ourselves and our friendship may +differ somewhat from that taken from an objective +point of view, I will give an extract from what our common +friend Theodore Tilton wrote of us in 1868:</p> +<div class="blkquot"> +<p>"Miss Susan B. Anthony, a well-known, indefatigable, +and lifelong advocate of temperance, anti-slavery, +and woman's rights, has been, since 1851, Mrs. Stanton's +intimate associate in reformatory labors. These celebrated +women are of about equal age, but of the most +opposite characteristics, and illustrate the theory of +counterparts in affection by entertaining for each other +a friendship of extraordinary strength.</p> +<p>"Mrs. Stanton is a fine writer, but a poor executant; +Miss Anthony is a thorough manager, but a poor +<a name="Page_185"></a>writer. Both have large brains and great hearts; +neither has any selfish ambition for celebrity; but +each vies with the other in a noble enthusiasm for the +cause to which they are devoting their lives.</p> +<p>"Nevertheless, to describe them critically, I ought +to say that, opposites though they be, each does not so +much supplement the other's deficiencies as augment +the other's eccentricities. Thus they often stimulate +each other's aggressiveness, and, at the same time, diminish +each other's discretion.</p> +<p>"But, whatever may be the imprudent utterances of +the one or the impolitic methods of the other, the animating +motives of both are evermore as white as the +light. The good that they do is by design; the harm +by accident. These two women, sitting together in +their parlors, have, for the last thirty years, been diligent +forgers of all manner of projectiles, from fireworks +to thunderbolts, and have hurled them with unexpected +explosion into the midst of all manner of educational, +reformatory, religious, and political assemblies; sometimes +to the pleasant surprise and half welcome of the +members, more often to the bewilderment and prostration +of numerous victims; and, in a few signal instances, +to the gnashing of angry men's teeth. I know of no +two more pertinacious incendiaries in the whole country. +Nor will they, themselves deny the charge. In +fact this noise-making twain are the two sticks of a +drum, keeping up what Daniel Webster called 'The +rub-a-dub of agitation.'"</p> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XII"></a> +<h2><a name="Page_186"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2> +<h2>MY FIRST SPEECH BEFORE A LEGISLATURE.</h2> +<br> +<p>Women had been willing so long to hold a subordinate +position, both in private and public affairs, +that a gradually growing feeling of rebellion among +them quite exasperated the men, and their manifestations +of hostility in public meetings were often as +ridiculous as humiliating.</p> +<p>True, those gentlemen were all quite willing that +women should join their societies and churches to do +the drudgery; to work up the enthusiasm in fairs and +revivals, conventions and flag presentations; to pay a +dollar apiece into their treasury for the honor of being +members of their various organizations; to beg money +for the Church; to circulate petitions from door to door; +to visit saloons; to pray with or defy rumsellers; to +teach school at half price, and sit round the outskirts +of a hall, in teachers' State conventions, like so many +wallflowers; but they would not allow them to sit on the +platform, address the assembly, or vote for men and +measures.</p> +<p>Those who had learned the first lessons of human +rights from the lips of Henry B. Stanton, Samuel J. +May, and Gerrit Smith would not accept any such position. +When women abandoned the temperance reform, +all interest in the question gradually died out in +the State, and practically nothing was done in New +<a name="Page_187"></a>York for nearly twenty years. Gerrit Smith made +one +or two attempts toward an "anti-dramshop" party, +but, as women could not vote, they felt no interest in +the measure, and failure was the result.</p> +<p>I soon convinced Miss Anthony that the ballot was +the key to the situation; that when we had a voice in +the laws we should be welcome to any platform. In +turning the intense earnestness and religious enthusiasm +of this great-souled woman into this channel, I +soon felt the power of my convert in goading me forever +forward to more untiring work. Soon fastened, +heart to heart, with hooks of steel in a friendship that +years of confidence and affection have steadily strengthened, +we have labored faithfully together.</p> +<p>From the year 1850 conventions were held in various +States, and their respective legislatures were continually +besieged; New York was thoroughly canvassed by +Miss Anthony and others. Appeals, calls for meetings, +and petitions were circulated without number. In 1854 +I prepared my first speech for the New York legislature. +That was a great event in my life. I felt so +nervous over it, lest it should not be worthy the occasion, +that Miss Anthony suggested that I should slip +up to Rochester and submit it to the Rev. William +Henry Channing, who was preaching there at that time. +I did so, and his opinion was so favorable as to the merits +of my speech that I felt quite reassured. My father felt +equally nervous when he saw, by the Albany <i>Evening +Journal</i>, that I was to speak at the Capitol, and asked +me to read my speech to him also. Accordingly, I +stopped at Johnstown on my way to Albany, and, late +one evening, when he was alone in his office, I entered +and took my seat on the opposite side of his table. On +<a name="Page_188"></a>no occasion, before or since, was I ever more +embarrassed—an +audience of one, and that the one of +all others whose approbation I most desired, whose +disapproval I most feared. I knew he condemned the +whole movement, and was deeply grieved at the active +part I had taken. Hence I was fully aware that I was +about to address a wholly unsympathetic audience. +However, I began, with a dogged determination to give +all the power I could to my manuscript, and not to be +discouraged or turned from my purpose by any tender +appeals or adverse criticisms. I described the widow +in the first hours of her grief, subject to the intrusions +of the coarse minions of the law, taking inventory of the +household goods, of the old armchair in which her loved +one had breathed his last, of the old clock in the corner +that told the hour he passed away. I threw all the +pathos I could into my voice and language at this point, +and, to my intense satisfaction, I saw tears filling my +father's eyes. I cannot express the exultation I felt, +thinking that now he would see, with my eyes, the injustice +women suffered under the laws he understood +so well.</p> +<p>Feeling that I had touched his heart I went on with +renewed confidence, and, when I had finished, I saw he +was thoroughly magnetized. With beating heart I +waited for him to break the silence. He was evidently +deeply pondering over all he had heard, and did not +speak for a long time. I believed I had opened to him +a new world of thought. He had listened long to +the complaints of women, but from the lips of his own +daughter they had come with a deeper pathos and +power. At last, turning abruptly, he said: "Surely you +have had a happy, comfortable life, with all your wants +<a name="Page_189"></a>and needs supplied; and yet that speech fills me +with +self-reproach; for one might naturally ask, how can a +young woman, tenderly brought up, who has had no +bitter personal experience, feel so keenly the wrongs of +her sex? Where did you learn this lesson?" "I +learned it here," I replied, "in your office, when a child, +listening to the complaints women made to you. They +who have sympathy and imagination to make the sorrows +of others their own can readily learn all the hard +lessons of life from the experience of others." "Well, +well!" he said, "you have made your points clear and +strong; but I think I can find you even more cruel laws +than those you have quoted." He suggested some improvements +in my speech, looked up other laws, and it +was one o'clock in the morning before we kissed each +other good-night. How he felt on the question after +that I do not know, as he never said anything in favor +of or against it. He gladly gave me any help I needed, +from time to time, in looking up the laws, and was very +desirous that whatever I gave to the public should be +carefully prepared.</p> +<p>Miss Anthony printed twenty thousand copies of this +address, laid it on the desk of every member of the legislature, +both in the Assembly and Senate, and, in her +travels that winter, she circulated it throughout the +State. I am happy to say I never felt so anxious about +the fate of a speech since.</p> +<p>The first woman's convention in Albany was held at +this time, and we had a kind of protracted meeting for +two weeks after. There were several hearings before +both branches of the legislature, and a succession of +meetings in Association Hall, in which Phillips, Channing, +Ernestine L. Rose, Antoinette L. Brown, and +<a name="Page_190"></a>Susan B. Anthony took part. Being at the capital +of +the State, discussion was aroused at every fireside, while +the comments of the press were numerous and varied. +Every little country paper had something witty or silly +to say about the uprising of the "strong-minded." +Those editors whose heads were about the size of an +apple were the most opposed to the uprising of women, +illustrating what Sidney Smith said long ago: "There +always was, and there always will be a class of men so +small that, if women were educated, there would be +nobody left below them." Poor human nature loves to +have something to look down upon!</p> +<p>Here is a specimen of the way such editors talked +at that time. The <i>Albany Register</i>, in an article +on "Woman's Rights in the Legislature," dated March +7, 1854, says:</p> +<div class="blkquot"> +<p>"While the feminine propagandists of women's rights +confined themselves to the exhibition of short petticoats +and long-legged boots, and to the holding of +conventions and speech-making in concert rooms, the +people were disposed to be amused by them, as they +are by the wit of the clown in the circus, or the performances +of Punch and Judy on fair days, or the minstrelsy +of gentlemen with blackened faces, on banjos, +the tambourine, and bones. But the joke is becoming +stale. People are getting cloyed with these performances, +and are looking for some healthier and more +intellectual amusement. The ludicrous is wearing +away, and disgust is taking the place of pleasurable sensations, +arising from the novelty of this new phase of +hypocrisy and infidel fanaticism.</p> +<p>"People are beginning to inquire how far public sentiment +should sanction or tolerate these unsexed women, +<a name="Page_191"></a>who would step out from the true sphere of the +mother, +the wife, and the daughter, and taking upon themselves +the duties and the business of men, stalk into the public +gaze, and, by engaging in the politics, the rough controversies +and trafficking of the world, upheave existing +institutions, and overrun all the social relations of life.</p> +<p>"It is a melancholy reflection that, among our +American women, who have been educated to better +things, there should be found any who are willing to +follow the lead of such foreign propagandists as the +ringleted, gloved exotic, Ernestine L. Rose. We can +understand how such a man as the Rev. Mr. May, or +the sleek-headed Dr. Channing, may be deluded by her +into becoming one of her disciples. They are not the +first instances of infatuation that may overtake weak-minded +men, if they are honest in their devotion to her +and her doctrines; nor would they be the first examples +of a low ambition that seeks notoriety as a substitute +for true fame, if they are dishonest. Such men there +are always, and, honest or dishonest, their true position +is that of being tied to the apron strings of some strong-minded +woman, and to be exhibited as rare specimens +of human wickedness or human weakness and folly. +But that one educated American should become her +disciple and follow her insane teachings is a marvel."</p> +</div> +<p>When we see the abuse and ridicule to which the best +of men were subjected for standing on our platform in +the early days, we need not wonder that so few have +been brave enough to advocate our cause in later years, +either in conventions or in the halls of legislation.</p> +<p>After twelve added years of agitation, following the +passage of the Property Bill, New York conceded other +civil rights to married women. Pending the discussion +<a name="Page_192"></a>of these various bills, Susan B. Anthony +circulated petitions, +both for the civil and political rights of women, +throughout the State, traveling in stage coaches, open +wagons, and sleighs in all seasons, and on foot, from +door to door through towns and cities, doing her uttermost +to rouse women to some sense of their natural +rights as human beings, and to their civil and political +rights as citizens of a republic. And while expending +her time, strength, and money to secure these blessings +for the women of the State, they would gruffly tell her +that they had all the rights they wanted, or rudely shut +the door in her face; leaving her to stand outside, petition +in hand, treating her with as much contempt as +if she was asking alms for herself. None but those who +did that work in the early days, for the slaves and the +women, can ever know the hardships and humiliations +that were endured. But it was done because it was +only through petitions—a power seemingly so inefficient—that +disfranchised classes could be heard in the +State and National councils; hence their importance.</p> +<p>The frivolous objections some women made to our +appeals were as exasperating as they were ridiculous. +To reply to them politely, at all times, required a divine +patience. On one occasion, after addressing the legislature, +some of the ladies, in congratulating me, inquired, +in a deprecating tone, "What do you do with +your children?" "Ladies," I said, "it takes me no +longer to speak, than you to listen; what have you done +with your children the two hours you have been sitting +here? But, to answer your question, I never leave +my children to go to Saratoga, Washington, Newport, +or Europe, or even to come here. They are, at this +moment, with a faithful nurse at the Delevan House, +<a name="Page_193"></a>and, having accomplished my mission, we shall +all return +home together."</p> +<p>When my children reached the magic number of +seven, my good angel, Susan B. Anthony, would sometimes +take one or two of them to her own quiet home, +just out of Rochester, where, on a well-cultivated little +farm, one could enjoy uninterrupted rest and the +choicest fruits of the season. That was always a safe +harbor for my friend, as her family sympathized fully +in the reforms to which she gave her life. I have many +pleasant memories of my own flying visits to that +hospitable Quaker home and the broad catholic spirit +of Daniel and Lucy Anthony. Whatever opposition +and ridicule their daughter endured elsewhere, she enjoyed +the steadfast sympathy and confidence of her own +home circle. Her faithful sister Mary, a most successful +teacher in the public schools of Rochester for a +quarter of a century, and a good financier, who with her +patrimony and salary had laid by a competence, took +on her shoulders double duty at home in cheering the +declining years of her parents, that Susan might do the +public work in the reforms in which they were +equally interested. Now, with life's earnest work +nearly accomplished, the sisters are living happily together; +illustrating another of the many charming +homes of single women, so rapidly multiplying of late.</p> +<p>Miss Anthony, who was a frequent guest at my +home, sometimes stood guard when I was absent. The +children of our household say that among their earliest +recollections is the tableau of "Mother and Susan," +seated by a large table covered with books and papers, +always writing and talking about the Constitution, interrupted +with occasional visits from others of the faith<a name="Page_194"></a>ful. +Hither came Elizabeth Oakes Smith, Paulina +Wright Davis, Frances Dana Gage, Dr. Harriet Hunt, +Rev. Antoinette Brown, Lucy Stone, and Abby Kelly, +until all these names were as familiar as household +words to the children.</p> +<p>Martha C. Wright of Auburn was a frequent visitor +at the center of the rebellion, as my sequestered cottage +on Locust Hill was facetiously called. She brought +to these councils of war not only her own wisdom, +but that of the wife and sister of William H. +Seward, and sometimes encouraging suggestions from +the great statesman himself, from whose writings we +often gleaned grand and radical sentiments. Lucretia +Mott, too, being an occasional guest of her sister, +Martha C. Wright, added the dignity of her presence +at many of these important consultations. She +was uniformly in favor of toning down our fiery +pronunciamentos. For Miss Anthony and myself, +the English language had no words strong enough +to express the indignation we felt at the prolonged +injustice to women. We found, however, +that, after expressing ourselves in the most vehement +manner and thus in a measure giving our +feelings an outlet, we were reconciled to issue the +documents in milder terms. If the men of the State +could have known the stern rebukes, the denunciations, +the wit, the irony, the sarcasm that were +garnered there, and then judiciously pigeonholed and +milder and more persuasive appeals substituted, they +would have been truly thankful that they fared no +worse.</p> +<p>Senator Seward frequently left Washington to visit +in our neighborhood, at the house of Judge G.V. +<a name="Page_195"></a>Sackett, a man of wealth and political +influence. One +of the Senator's standing anecdotes, at dinner, to +illustrate the purifying influence of women at the polls, +which he always told with great zest for my especial +benefit, was in regard to the manner in which his wife's +sister exercised the right of suffrage.</p> +<p>He said: "Mrs. Worden having the supervision of a +farm near Auburn, was obliged to hire two or three men +for its cultivation. It was her custom, having examined +them as to their capacity to perform the required +labor, their knowledge of tools, horses, cattle, and +horticulture, to inquire as to their politics. She informed +them that, being a widow and having no +one to represent her, she must have Republicans to do +her voting and to represent her political opinions, and +it always so happened that the men who offered their +services belonged to the Republican party. I remarked +to her, one day, 'Are you sure your men vote as they +promise?' 'Yes,' she replied, 'I trust nothing to their +discretion. I take them in my carriage within sight of +the polls and put them in charge of some Republican +who can be trusted. I see that they have the right +tickets and then I feel sure that I am faithfully represented, +and I know I am right in so doing. I have +neither husband, father, nor son; I am responsible for +my own taxes; am amenable to all the laws of the State; +must pay the penalty of my own crimes if I commit +any; hence I have the right, according to the principles +of our government, to representation, and so long as I +am not permitted to vote in person, I have a right to +do so by proxy; hence I hire men to vote my +principles.'"</p> +<p>These two sisters, Mrs. Worden and Mrs. Seward, +<a name="Page_196"></a>daughters of Judge Miller, an influential man, +were +women of culture and remarkable natural intelligence, +and interested in all progressive ideas. They had rare +common sense and independence of character, great +simplicity of manner, and were wholly indifferent to the +little arts of the toilet.</p> +<p>I was often told by fashionable women that they objected +to the woman's rights movement because of the +publicity of a convention, the immodesty of speaking +from a platform, and the trial of seeing one's name in +the papers. Several ladies made such remarks to me +one day, as a bevy of us were sitting together in one of +the fashionable hotels in Newport. We were holding +a convention there at that time, and some of them had +been present at one of the sessions. "Really," said I, +"ladies, you surprise me; our conventions are not as +public as the ballroom where I saw you all dancing last +night. As to modesty, it may be a question, in many +minds, whether it is less modest to speak words of +soberness and truth, plainly dressed on a platform, than +gorgeously arrayed, with bare arms and shoulders, to +waltz in the arms of strange gentlemen. And as to the +press, I noticed you all reading, in this morning's papers, +with evident satisfaction, the personal compliments and +full descriptions of your dresses at the last ball. +I presume that any one of you would have felt slighted +if your name had not been mentioned in the general +description. When my name is mentioned, it is in connection +with some great reform movement. Thus we +all suffer or enjoy the same publicity—we are alike ridiculed. +Wise men pity and ridicule you, and fools pity +and ridicule me—you as the victims of folly and fashion, +me as the representative of many of the disagreeable +<a name="Page_197"></a>'isms' of the age, as they choose to style +liberal +opinions. It is amusing, in analyzing prejudices, to see +on what slender foundation they rest." And the ladies +around me were so completely cornered that no one +attempted an answer.</p> +<p>I remember being at a party at Secretary Seward's +home, at Auburn, one evening, when Mr. Burlingame, +special ambassador from China to the United States, +with a Chinese delegation, were among the guests. As +soon as the dancing commenced, and young ladies and +gentlemen, locked in each other's arms, began to whirl +in the giddy waltz, these Chinese gentlemen were so +shocked that they covered their faces with their fans, +occasionally peeping out each side and expressing their +surprise to each other. They thought us the most immodest +women on the face of the earth. Modesty and +taste are questions of latitude and education; the more +people know,—the more their ideas are expanded by +travel, experience, and observation,—the less easily they +are shocked. The narrowness and bigotry of women +are the result of their circumscribed sphere of thought +and action.</p> +<p>A few years after Judge Hurlbert had published his +work on "Human Rights," in which he advocated +woman's right to the suffrage, and I had addressed the +legislature, we met at a dinner party in Albany. +Senator and Mrs. Seward were there. The Senator +was very merry on that occasion and made Judge +Hurlbert and myself the target for all his ridicule +on the woman's rights question, in which the most +of the company joined, so that we stood quite +alone. Sure that we had the right on our side +and the arguments clearly defined in our minds, +<a name="Page_198"></a>and both being cool and self-possessed, and in +wit +and sarcasm quite equal to any of them, we fought +the Senator, inch by inch, until he had a very narrow +platform to stand on. Mrs. Seward maintained an unbroken +silence, while those ladies who did open their +lips were with the opposition, supposing, no doubt, that +Senator Seward represented his wife's opinions.</p> +<p>When we ladies withdrew from the table my embarrassment +may be easily imagined. Separated from +the Judge, I would now be an hour with a bevy of +ladies who evidently felt repugnance to all my most +cherished opinions. It was the first time I had met +Mrs. Seward, and I did not then know the broad, liberal +tendencies of her mind. What a tide of disagreeable +thoughts rushed through me in that short passage +from the dining room to the parlor. How gladly I +would have glided out the front door! But that was impossible, +so I made up my mind to stroll round as if +self-absorbed, and look at the books and paintings +until the Judge appeared; as I took it for granted that, +after all I had said at the table on the political, religious, +and social equality of women, not a lady would have +anything to say to me.</p> +<p>Imagine, then, my surprise when, the moment the +parlor door was closed upon us, Mrs. Seward, approaching +me most affectionately, said:</p> +<p>"Let me thank you for the brave words you uttered +at the dinner table, and for your speech before the +legislature, that thrilled my soul as I read it over and +over."</p> +<p>I was filled with joy and astonishment. Recovering +myself, I said, "Is it possible, Mrs. Seward, that you +agree with me? Then why, when I was so hard pressed +<a name="Page_199"></a>by foes on every side, did you not come to the +defense? +I supposed that all you ladies were hostile to every one +of my ideas on this question."</p> +<p>"No, no!" said she; "I am with you thoroughly, +but I am a born coward; there is nothing I dread more +than Mr. Seward's ridicule. I would rather walk up to +the cannon's mouth than encounter it." "I, too, am +with you," "And I," said two or three others, who had +been silent at the table.</p> +<p>I never had a more serious, heartfelt conversation +than with these ladies. Mrs. Seward's spontaneity and +earnestness had moved them all deeply, and when the +Senator appeared the first words he said were:</p> +<p>"Before we part I must confess that I was fairly vanquished +by you and the Judge, on my own principles" +(for we had quoted some of his most radical utterances). +"You have the argument, but custom and prejudice are +against you, and they are stronger than truth and +logic."</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XIII"></a> +<h2><a name="Page_200"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> +<h2>REFORMS AND MOBS.</h2> +<br> +<p>There was one bright woman among the many in +our Seneca Falls literary circle to whom I would give +more than a passing notice—Mrs. Amelia Bloomer, who +represented three novel phases of woman's life. She +was assistant postmistress; an editor of a reform paper +advocating temperance and woman's rights; and an advocate +of the new costume which bore her name!</p> +<p>In 1849 her husband was appointed postmaster, and +she became his deputy, was duly sworn in, and, during +the administration of Taylor and Fillmore, served in +that capacity. When she assumed her duties the improvement +in the appearance and conduct of the office +was generally acknowledged. A neat little room adjoining +the public office became a kind of ladies' exchange, +where those coming from different parts of the +town could meet to talk over the news of the day and +read the papers and magazines that came to Mrs. +Bloomer as editor of the <i>Lily</i>. Those who enjoyed the +brief reign of a woman in the post office can readily +testify to the void felt by the ladies of the village when +Mrs. Bloomer's term expired and a man once more +reigned in her stead. However, she still edited the +<i>Lily</i>, and her office remained a fashionable center for +several years. Although she wore the bloomer dress, +its originator was Elizabeth Smith Miller, the only +<a name="Page_201"></a>daughter of Gerrit Smith. In the winter of 1852 +Mrs. Miller came to visit me in Seneca Falls, +dressed somewhat in the Turkish style—short skirt, +full trousers of fine black broadcloth; a Spanish +cloak, of the same material, reaching to the knee; +beaver hat and feathers and dark furs; altogether +a most becoming costume and exceedingly convenient +for walking in all kinds of weather. To see my cousin, +with a lamp in one hand and a baby in the other, walk +upstairs with ease and grace, while, with flowing robes, +I pulled myself up with difficulty, lamp and baby out of +the question, readily convinced me that there was sore +need of reform in woman's dress, and I promptly +donned a similar attire. What incredible freedom I +enjoyed for two years! Like a captive set free from his +ball and chain, I was always ready for a brisk walk +through sleet and snow and rain, to climb a mountain, +jump over a fence, work in the garden, and, in fact, for +any necessary locomotion.</p> +<p>Bloomer is now a recognized word in the English +language. Mrs. Bloomer, having the <i>Lily</i> in which to +discuss the merits of the new dress, the press generally +took up the question, and much valuable information +was elicited on the physiological results of woman's +fashionable attire; the crippling effect of tight waists +and long skirts, the heavy weight on the hips, and high +heels, all combined to throw the spine out of plumb +and lay the foundation for all manner of nervous +diseases. But, while all agreed that some change was +absolutely necessary for the health of women, the press +stoutly ridiculed those who were ready to make the +experiment.</p> +<p>A few sensible women, in different parts of the coun<a + name="Page_202"></a>try, +adopted the costume, and farmers' wives especially +proved its convenience. It was also worn by skaters, +gymnasts, tourists, and in sanitariums. But, while +the few realized its advantages, the many laughed it to +scorn, and heaped such ridicule on its wearers that they +soon found that the physical freedom enjoyed did not +compensate for the persistent persecution and petty +annoyances suffered at every turn. To be rudely gazed +at in public and private, to be the conscious subjects of +criticism, and to be followed by crowds of boys in the +streets, were all, to the very last degree, exasperating. +A favorite doggerel that our tormentors chanted, when +we appeared in public places, ran thus:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Heigh! ho! in rain and snow,</p> +<p>The bloomer now is all the go.</p> +<p>Twenty tailors take the stitches,</p> +<p>Twenty women wear the breeches.</p> +<p>Heigh! ho! in rain or snow,</p> +<p>The bloomer now is all the go."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>The singers were generally invisible behind some +fence or attic window. Those who wore the dress can +recall countless amusing and annoying experiences. +The patience of most of us was exhausted in about two +years; but our leader, Mrs. Miller, bravely adhered to +the costume for nearly seven years, under the most trying +circumstances. While her father was in Congress, +she wore it at many fashionable dinners and receptions +in Washington. She was bravely sustained, however, +by her husband, Colonel Miller, who never flinched in +escorting his wife and her coadjutors, however inartistic +their costumes might be. To tall, gaunt women with +large feet and to those who were short and stout, it was +equally trying. Mrs. Miller was also encouraged by +<a name="Page_203"></a>the intense feeling of her father on the +question of +woman's dress. To him the whole revolution in +woman's position turned on her dress. The long skirt +was the symbol of her degradation.</p> +<p>The names of those who wore the bloomer costume, +besides those already mentioned, were Paulina Wright +Davis, Lucy Stone, Susan B. Anthony, Sarah and +Angelina Grimke, Mrs. William Burleigh, Celia Burleigh, +Charlotte Beebe Wilbour, Helen Jarvis, Lydia +Jenkins, Amelia Willard, Dr. Harriet N. Austin, and +many patients in sanitariums, whose names I cannot +recall. Looking back to this experiment, I am not +surprised at the hostility of men in general to the dress, +as it made it very uncomfortable for them to go anywhere +with those who wore it. People would stare, +many men and women make rude remarks, boys followed +in crowds, with jeers and laughter, so that gentlemen +in attendance would feel it their duty to show +fight, unless they had sufficient self-control to pursue +the even tenor of their way, as the ladies themselves +did, without taking the slightest notice of the commotion +they created. But Colonel Miller went through the +ordeal with coolness and dogged determination, to the +vexation of his acquaintances, who thought one of his +duties as a husband was to prescribe his wife's costume.</p> +<p>Though we did not realize the success we hoped for +by making the dress popular, yet the effort was not +lost. We were well aware that the dress was not artistic, +and though we made many changes, our own good +taste was never satisfied until we threw aside the loose +trousers and adopted buttoned leggins. After giving +up the experiment, we found that the costume in which +Diana the Huntress is represented, and that worn on the +<a name="Page_204"></a>stage by Ellen Tree in the play of "Ion," would +have +been more artistic and convenient. But we, who had +made the experiment, were too happy to move about +unnoticed and unknown, to risk, again, the happiness of +ourselves and our friends by any further experiments. +I have never wondered since that the Chinese women +allow their daughters' feet to be encased in iron shoes, +nor that the Hindoo widows walk calmly to the funeral +pyre; for great are the penalties of those who dare resist +the behests of the tyrant Custom.</p> +<p>Nevertheless the agitation has been kept up, in a +mild form, both in England and America. Lady +Harberton, in 1885, was at the head of an organized +movement in London to introduce the bifurcated skirt; +Mrs. Jenness Miller, in this country, is making an +entire revolution in every garment that belongs to a +woman's toilet; and common-sense shoemakers have +vouchsafed to us, at last, a low, square heel to our boots +and a broad sole in which the five toes can spread themselves +at pleasure. Evidently a new day of physical +freedom is at last dawning for the most cribbed and +crippled of Eve's unhappy daughters.</p> +<p>It was while living in Seneca Falls, and at one +of the most despairing periods of my young life, that +one of the best gifts of the gods came to me in the form +of a good, faithful housekeeper. She was indeed a +treasure, a friend and comforter, a second mother to my +children, and understood all life's duties and gladly bore +its burdens. She could fill any department in domestic +life, and for thirty years was the joy of our household. +But for this noble, self-sacrificing woman, much +of my public work would have been quite impossible. +If by word or deed I have made the journey of life easier +<a name="Page_205"></a>for any struggling soul, I must in justice share +the +meed of praise accorded me with my little Quaker +friend Amelia Willard.</p> +<p>There are two classes of housekeepers—one that will +get what they want, if in the range of human possibilities, +and then accept the inevitable inconveniences with +cheerfulness and heroism; the other, from a kind +of chronic inertia and a fear of taking responsibility, +accept everything as they find it, though with gentle, +continuous complainings. The latter are called amiable +women. Such a woman was our congressman's wife +in 1854, and, as I was the reservoir of all her sorrows, +great and small, I became very weary of her amiable +non-resistance. Among other domestic trials, she had +a kitchen stove that smoked and leaked, which could +neither bake nor broil,—a worthless thing,—and too +small for any purpose. Consequently half their viands +were spoiled in the cooking, and the cooks left in disgust, +one after another.</p> +<p>In telling me, one day, of these kitchen misadventures, +she actually shed tears, which so roused my +sympathies that, with surprise, I exclaimed: "Why do +you not buy a new stove?" To my unassisted common +sense that seemed the most practical thing to do. +"Why," she replied, "I have never purchased a darning +needle, to put the case strongly, without consulting +Mr. S., and he does not think a new stove necessary." +"What, pray," said I, "does he know about stoves, +sitting in his easy-chair in Washington? If he had a +dull old knife with broken blades, he would soon get a +new one with which to sharpen his pens and pencils, +and, if he attempted to cook a meal—granting he knew +how—on your old stove, he would set it out of doors +<a name="Page_206"></a>the next hour. Now my advice to you is to buy a +new +one this very day!"</p> +<p>"Bless me!" she said, "that would make him furious; +he would blow me sky-high." "Well," I replied, "suppose +he did go into a regular tantrum and use all the +most startling expletives in the vocabulary for fifteen +minutes! What is that compared with a good stove +365 days in the year? Just put all he could say on one +side, and all the advantages you would enjoy on the +other, and you must readily see that his wrath would +kick the beam." As my logic was irresistible, she said, +"Well, if you will go with me, and help select a stove, +I think I will take the responsibility."</p> +<p>Accordingly we went to the hardware store and +selected the most approved, largest-sized stove, with +all the best cooking utensils, best Russian pipe, etc. +"Now," said she, "I am in equal need of a good stove +in my sitting room, and I would like the pipes of +both stoves to lead into dumb stoves above, and thus +heat two or three rooms upstairs for my children to +play in, as they have no place except the sitting room, +where they must be always with me; but I suppose it +is not best to do too much at one time." "On the contrary," +I replied, "as your husband is wealthy, you had +better get all you really need now. Mr. S. will probably +be no more surprised with two stoves than with +one, and, as you expect a hot scene over the matter, +the more you get out of it the better."</p> +<p>So the stoves and pipes were ordered, holes cut +through the ceiling, and all were in working order next +day. The cook was delighted over her splendid stove +and shining tins, copper-bottomed tea kettle and boiler, +and warm sleeping room upstairs; the children were de<a name="Page_207"></a>lighted +with their large playrooms, and madam jubilant +with her added comforts and that newborn feeling +of independence one has in assuming responsibility.</p> +<p>She was expecting Mr. S. home in the holidays, and +occasionally weakened at the prospect of what she +feared might be a disagreeable encounter. At such +times she came to consult with me, as to what she would +say and do when the crisis arrived. Having studied the +<i>genus homo</i> alike on the divine heights of exaltation +and in the valleys of humiliation, I was able to make +some valuable suggestions.</p> +<p>"Now," said I, "when your husband explodes, as you +think he will, neither say nor do anything; sit and gaze +out of the window with that far-away, sad look women +know so well how to affect. If you can summon tears +at pleasure, a few would not be amiss; a gentle shower, +not enough to make the nose and eyes red or to detract +from your beauty. Men cannot resist beauty and +tears. Never mar their effect with anything bordering +on sobs and hysteria; such violent manifestations being +neither refined nor artistic. A scene in which one person +does the talking must be limited in time. No ordinary +man can keep at white heat fifteen minutes; if his +victim says nothing, he will soon exhaust himself. Remember +every time you speak in the way of defense, +you give him a new text on which to branch out again. +If silence is ever golden, it is when a husband is in a +tantrum."</p> +<p>In due time Mr. S. arrived, laden with Christmas +presents, and Charlotte came over to tell me that she +had passed through the ordeal. I will give the scene +in her own words as nearly as possible. "My husband +came yesterday, just before dinner, and, as I expected +<a name="Page_208"></a>him, I had all things in order. He seemed very +happy +to see me and the children, and we had a gay time looking +at our presents and chatting about Washington and +all that had happened since we parted. It made me sad, +in the midst of our happiness, to think how soon the +current of his feelings would change, and I wished in +my soul that I had not bought the stoves. But, at +last, dinner was announced, and I knew that the hour +had come. He ran upstairs to give a few touches to his +toilet, when lo! the shining stoves and pipes caught his +eyes. He explored the upper apartments and came +down the back stairs, glanced at the kitchen stove, then +into the dining room, and stood confounded, for a moment, +before the nickel-plated 'Morning Glory.' Then +he exclaimed, 'Heavens and earth! Charlotte, what +have you been doing?' I remembered what you told +me and said nothing, but looked steadily out of the +window. I summoned no tears, however, for I felt +more like laughing than crying; he looked so ridiculous +flying round spasmodically, like popcorn on a hot griddle, +and talking as if making a stump speech on the +corruptions of the Democrats. The first time he +paused to take breath I said, in my softest tones: 'William, +dinner is waiting; I fear the soup will be cold.' +Fortunately he was hungry, and that great central +organ of life and happiness asserted its claims on his +attention, and he took his seat at the table. I broke +what might have been an awkward silence, chatting +with the older children about their school lessons. +Fortunately they were late, and did not know what had +happened, so they talked to their father and gradually +restored his equilibrium. We had a very good dinner, +and I have not heard a word about the stoves since. I +<a name="Page_209"></a>suppose we shall have another scene when the +bill is +presented."</p> +<p>A few years later, Horace Greeley came to Seneca +Falls to lecture on temperance. As he stayed with us, +we invited Mr. S., among others, to dinner. The chief +topic at the table was the idiosyncrasies of women. +Mr. Greeley told many amusing things about his wife, +of her erratic movements and sudden decisions to do +and dare what seemed most impracticable. Perhaps, +on rising some morning, she would say: "I think I'll +go to Europe by the next steamer, Horace. Will you +get tickets to-day for me, the nurse, and children?" +"Well," said Mr. S., "she must be something like our +hostess. Every time her husband goes away she cuts +a door or window. They have only ten doors to lock +every night, now."</p> +<p>"Yes," I said, "and your own wife, too, Mrs. S., has +the credit of some high-handed measures when you are +in Washington." Then I told the whole story, amid +peals of laughter, just as related above. The dinner +table scene fairly convulsed the Congressman. The +thought that he had made such a fool of himself in the +eyes of Charlotte that she could not even summon a +tear in her defense, particularly pleased him. When +sufficiently recovered to speak, he said: "Well, I never +could understand how it was that Charlotte suddenly +emerged from her thraldom and manifested such rare +executive ability. Now I see to whom I am indebted +for the most comfortable part of my married life. I +am a thousand times obliged to you; you did just right +and so did she, and she has been a happier woman ever +since. She now gets what she needs, and frets no more, +to me, about ten thousand little things. How can a +<a name="Page_210"></a>man know what implements are necessary for the +work +he never does? Of all agencies for upsetting the +equanimity of family life, none can surpass an old, +broken-down kitchen stove!"</p> +<p>In the winter of 1861, just after the election of Lincoln, +the abolitionists decided to hold a series of conventions +in the chief cities of the North. All their +available speakers were pledged for active service. The +Republican party, having absorbed the political abolitionists +within its ranks by its declared hostility to the +extension of slavery, had come into power with overwhelming +majorities. Hence the Garrisonian abolitionists, +opposed to all compromises, felt that this +was the opportune moment to rouse the people to +the necessity of holding that party to its declared principles, +and pushing it, if possible, a step or two forward.</p> +<p>I was invited to accompany Miss Anthony and +Beriah Green to a few points in Central New York. +But we soon found, by the concerted action of Republicans +all over the country, that anti-slavery conventions +would not be tolerated. Thus Republicans and Democrats +made common cause against the abolitionists. +The John Brown raid, the year before, had intimidated +Northern politicians as much as Southern slaveholders, +and the general feeling was that the discussion of the +question at the North should be altogether suppressed.</p> +<p>From Buffalo to Albany our experience was the same, +varied only by the fertile resources of the actors and +their surroundings. Thirty years of education had +somewhat changed the character of Northern mobs. +They no longer dragged men through the streets with +ropes around their necks, nor broke up women's prayer +meetings; they no longer threw eggs and brickbats at +<a name="Page_211"></a>the apostles of reform, nor dipped them in +barrels of +tar and feathers, they simply crowded the halls, and, +with laughing, groaning, clapping, and cheering, effectually +interrupted the proceedings. Such was our experience +during the two days we attempted to hold +a convention in St. James' Hall, Buffalo. As we paid +for the hall, the mob enjoyed themselves, at our expense, +in more ways than one. Every session, at the +appointed time, we took our places on the platform, +making, at various intervals of silence, renewed efforts +to speak. Not succeeding, we sat and conversed with +each other and the many friends who crowded the platform +and anterooms. Thus, among ourselves, we had +a pleasant reception and a discussion of many phases of +the question that brought us together. The mob not +only vouchsafed to us the privilege of talking to our +friends without interruption, but delegations of their +own came behind the scenes, from time to time, to discuss +with us the right of free speech and the constitutionality +of slavery.</p> +<p>These Buffalo rowdies were headed by ex-Justice +Hinson, aided by younger members of the Fillmore and +Seymour families, and the chief of police and fifty subordinates, +who were admitted to the hall free, for the +express purpose of protecting our right of free speech, +but who, in defiance of the mayor's orders, made not +the slightest effort in our defense. At Lockport there +was a feeble attempt in the same direction. At Albion +neither hall, church, nor schoolhouse could be obtained, +so we held small meetings in the dining room of the +hotel. At Rochester, Corinthian Hall was packed long +before the hour advertised. This was a delicately appreciative, +jocose mob. At this point Aaron Powell +<a name="Page_212"></a>joined us. As he had just risen from a bed of +sickness, +looking pale and emaciated, he slowly mounted the +platform. The mob at once took in his look of exhaustion, +and, as he seated himself, they gave an audible +simultaneous sigh, as if to say, what a relief it is to be +seated! So completely did the tender manifestation +reflect Mr. Powell's apparent condition that the whole +audience burst into a roar of laughter. Here, too, all +attempts to speak were futile. At Port Byron a +generous sprinkling of cayenne pepper on the stove +soon cut short all constitutional arguments and paeans +to liberty.</p> +<p>And so it was all the way to Albany. The whole +State was aflame with the mob spirit, and from Boston +and various points in other States the same news +reached us. As the legislature was in session, and we +were advertised in Albany, a radical member sarcastically +moved "That as Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony +were about to move on Albany, the militia be ordered +out for the protection of the city." Happily, Albany +could then boast of a Democratic mayor, a man +of courage and conscience, who said the right of +free speech should never be trodden under foot where +he had the right to prevent it. And grandly did +that one determined man maintain order in his jurisdiction. +Through all the sessions of the convention +Mayor Thatcher sat on the platform, his police stationed +in different parts of the hall and outside the +building, to disperse the crowd as fast as it collected. +If a man or boy hissed or made the slightest interruption, +he was immediately ejected. And not only did +the mayor preserve order in the meetings, but, with a +company of armed police, he escorted us, every time, +<a name="Page_213"></a>to and from the Delevan House. The last night +Gerrit +Smith addressed the mob from the steps of the hotel, +after which they gave him three cheers and dispersed +in good order.</p> +<p>When proposing for the Mayor a vote of thanks, at +the close of the convention, Mr. Smith expressed his +fears that it had been a severe ordeal for him to listen +to these prolonged anti-slavery discussions. He +smiled, and said: "I have really been deeply interested +and instructed. I rather congratulate myself that a +convention of this character has, at last, come in the +line of my business; otherwise I should have probably +remained in ignorance of many important facts and +opinions I now understand and appreciate."</p> +<p>While all this was going on publicly, an equally trying +experience was progressing, day by day, behind the +scenes. Miss Anthony had been instrumental in helping +a much abused mother, with her child, to escape from +a husband who had immured her in an insane asylum. +The wife belonged to one of the first families of New +York, her brother being a United States senator, and +the husband, also, a man of position; a large circle of +friends and acquaintances was interested in the result. +Though she was incarcerated in an insane asylum for +eighteen months, yet members of her own family again +and again testified that she was not insane. Miss Anthony, +knowing that she was not, and believing fully +that the unhappy mother was the victim of a conspiracy, +would not reveal her hiding place.</p> +<p>Knowing the confidence Miss Anthony felt in the +wisdom of Mr. Garrison and Mr. Phillips, they were +implored to use their influence with her to give up the +fugitives. Letters and telegrams, persuasions, argu<a name="Page_214"></a>ments, +and warnings from Mr. Garrison, Mr. Phillips, +and the Senator on the one side, and from Lydia Mott, +Mrs. Elizabeth F. Ellet, and Abby Hopper Gibbons, +on the other, poured in upon her, day after day; but +Miss Anthony remained immovable, although she knew +that she was defying and violating the law and might +be arrested any moment on the platform. We had +known so many aggravated cases of this kind that, +in daily counsel, we resolved that this woman should +not be recaptured if it were possible to prevent it. To +us it looked as imperative a duty to shield a sane mother, +who had been torn from a family of little children and +doomed to the companionship of lunatics, and to aid +her in fleeing to a place of safety, as to help a fugitive +from slavery to Canada. In both cases an unjust law +was violated; in both cases the supposed owners of the +victims were defied; hence, in point of law and morals, +the act was the same in both cases. The result proved +the wisdom of Miss Anthony's decision, as all with +whom Mrs. P. came in contact for years afterward, expressed +the opinion that she was, and always had been, +perfectly sane. Could the dark secrets of insane asylums +be brought to light we should be shocked to know +the great number of rebellious wives, sisters, and daughters +who are thus sacrificed to false customs and barbarous +laws made by men for women.</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XIV"></a> +<h2><a name="Page_215"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> +<h2>VIEWS ON MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE.</h2> +<p>The widespread discussion we are having, just now, +on the subject of marriage and divorce, reminds me of +an equally exciting one in 1860. A very liberal bill, introduced +into the Indiana legislature by Robert Dale +Owen, and which passed by a large majority, roused +much public thought on the question, and made that +State free soil for unhappy wives and husbands. A +similar bill was introduced into the legislature of New +York by Mr. Ramsey, which was defeated by four votes, +owing, mainly, to the intense opposition of Horace +Greeley. He and Mr. Owen had a prolonged discussion, +in the New York <i>Tribune</i>, in which Mr. Owen got +decidedly the better of the argument.</p> +<p>There had been several aggravated cases of cruelty +to wives among the Dutch aristocracy, so that strong +influences in favor of the bill had been brought to bear +on the legislature, but the <i>Tribune</i> thundered every +morning in its editorial column its loudest peals, which +reverberated through the State. So bitter was the opposition +to divorce, for any cause, that but few dared +to take part in the discussion. I was the only woman, +for many years, who wrote and spoke on the question. +Articles on divorce, by a number of women, recently +published in the <i>North American Review</i>, are a sign of +progress, showing that women dare speak out now +<a name="Page_216"></a>more freely on the relations that most deeply +concern +them.</p> +<p>My feelings had been stirred to their depths very early +in life by the sufferings of a dear friend of mine, at +whose wedding I was one of the bridesmaids. In +listening to the facts in her case, my mind was fully +made up as to the wisdom of a liberal divorce law. +We read Milton's essays on divorce, together, and were +thoroughly convinced as to the right and duty not only +of separation, but of absolute divorce. While the New +York bill was pending, I was requested, by Lewis Benedict, +one of the committee who had the bill in charge, +to address the legislature. I gladly accepted, feeling +that here was an opportunity not only to support my +friend in the step she had taken, but to make the path +clear for other unhappy wives who might desire to follow +her example. I had no thought of the persecution +I was drawing down on myself for thus attacking so +venerable an institution. I was always courageous in +saying what I saw to be true, for the simple reason that +I never dreamed of opposition. What seemed to me +to be right I thought must be equally plain to all other +rational beings. Hence I had no dread of denunciation. +I was only surprised when I encountered it, and no +number of experiences have, as yet, taught me to fear +public opinion. What I said on divorce thirty-seven +years ago seems quite in line with what many say now. +The trouble was not in what I said, but that I said it too +soon, and before the people were ready to hear it. It +may be, however, that I helped them to get ready; who +knows?</p> +<p>As we were holding a woman suffrage convention in +Albany, at the time appointed for the hearing, Ernes<a name="Page_217"></a>tine +L. Rose and Lucretia Mott briefly added their +views on the question. Although Mrs. Mott had urged +Mrs. Rose and myself to be as moderate as possible in +our demands, she quite unconsciously made the most +radical utterance of all, in saying that marriage was a +question beyond the realm of legislation, that must be +left to the parties themselves. We rallied Lucretia on +her radicalism, and some of the journals criticised us +severely; but the following letter shows that she had no +thought of receding from her position:</p> +<div class="blkquot"> +<p style="text-align: right;">"Roadside, near Philadelphia,<br> +"4th Mo., 30th, '61.</p> +<p>"My Dear Lydia Mott:</p> +<p>"I have wished, ever since parting with thee and our +other dear friends in Albany, to send thee a line, and +have only waited in the hope of contributing a little +'substantial aid' toward your neat and valuable 'depository.' +The twenty dollars inclosed is from our +Female Anti-slavery Society.</p> +<p>"I see the annual meeting, in New York, is not to be +held this spring. Sister Martha is here, and was expecting +to attend both anniversaries. But we now +think the woman's rights meeting had better not be +attempted, and she has written Elizabeth C. Stanton +to this effect.</p> +<p>"I was well satisfied with being at the Albany meeting. +I have since met with the following, from a speech +of Lord Brougham's, which pleased me, as being as +radical as mine in your stately Hall of Representatives:</p> +<p>"'Before women can have any justice by the laws of +England, there must be a total reconstruction of the +whole marriage system; for any attempt to amend it +<a name="Page_218"></a>would prove useless. The great charter, in +establishing +the supremacy of law over prerogative, provides +only for justice between man and man; for woman nothing +is left but common law, accumulations and modifications +of original Gothic and Roman heathenism, +which no amount of filtration through ecclesiastical +courts could change into Christian laws. They are declared +unworthy a Christian people by great jurists; +still they remain unchanged.'</p> +<p>"So Elizabeth Stanton will see that I have authority +for going to the root of the evil.</p> +<p style="margin-left: 40px;">"Thine,</p> +<p style="margin-left: 80px;">"LUCRETIA MOTT."</p> +</div> +<p>Those of us who met in Albany talked the matter +over in regard to a free discussion of the divorce question +at the coming convention in New York. It was +the opinion of those present that, as the laws on +marriage and divorce were very unequal for man and +woman, this was a legitimate subject for discussion on +our platform; accordingly I presented a series of resolutions, +at the annual convention, in New York city, to +which I spoke for over an hour. I was followed by +Antoinette L, Brown, who also presented a series of +resolutions in opposition to mine. She was, in turn, +answered by Ernestine L. Rose. Wendell Phillips then +arose, and, in an impressive manner pronounced the +whole discussion irrelevant to our platform, and moved +that neither the speeches nor resolutions go on the +records of the convention. As I greatly admired +Wendell Phillips, and appreciated his good opinion, I +was surprised and humiliated to find myself under the +ban of his disapprobation. My face was scarlet, and I +<a name="Page_219"></a>trembled with mingled feelings of doubt and +fear—doubt +as to the wisdom of my position and fear lest the +convention should repudiate the whole discussion. My +emotion was so apparent that Rev. Samuel Longfellow, +a brother of the poet, who sat beside me, whispered in +my ear, "Nevertheless you are right, and the convention +will sustain you."</p> +<p>Mr. Phillips said that as marriage concerned man +and woman alike, and the laws bore equally on them, +women had no special ground for complaint, although, +in my speech, I had quoted many laws +to show the reverse. Mr. Garrison and Rev. Antoinette +L. Brown were alike opposed to Mr. Phillips' +motion, and claimed that marriage and divorce +were legitimate subjects for discussion on our platform. +Miss Anthony closed the debate. She said: +"I hope Mr. Phillips will withdraw his motion that +these resolutions shall not appear on the records of +the convention. I am very sure that it would be contrary +to all parliamentary usage to say that, when the +speeches which enforced and advocated the resolutions +are reported and published in the proceedings, the resolutions +shall not be placed there. And as to the point +that this question does not belong to this platform—from +that I totally dissent. Marriage has ever been a +one-sided matter, resting most unequally upon the +sexes. By it man gains all; woman loses all; tyrant law +and lust reign supreme with him; meek submission and +ready obedience alone befit her. Woman has never +been consulted; her wish has never been taken into consideration +as regards the terms of the marriage compact. +By law, public sentiment, and religion,—from the time +of Moses down to the present day,—woman has never +<a name="Page_220"></a>been thought of other than as a piece of +property, to be +disposed of at the will and pleasure of man. And at +this very hour, by our statute books, by our (so-called) +enlightened Christian civilization, she has no voice +whatever in saying what shall be the basis of the relation. +She must accept marriage as man proffers it, or +not at all.</p> +<p>"And then, again, on Mr. Phillips' own ground, +the discussion is perfectly in order, since nearly all +the wrongs of which we complain grow out of the inequality +of the marriage laws, that rob the wife of +the right to herself and her children; that make her the +slave of the man she marries. I hope, therefore, the +resolutions will be allowed to go out to the public; that +there may be a fair report of the ideas which have +actually been presented here; that they may not be left +to the mercy of the secular press, I trust the convention +will not vote to forbid the publication of those +resolutions with the proceedings."</p> +<p>Rev. William Hoisington (the blind preacher) followed +Miss Anthony, and said: "Publish all that you +have done here, and let the public know it."</p> +<p>The question was then put, on the motion of Mr. +Phillips, and it was lost.</p> +<p>As Mr. Greeley, in commenting on the convention, +took the same ground with Mr. Phillips, that the laws +on marriage and divorce were equal for man and +woman, I answered them in the following letter to the +New York <i>Tribune</i>.</p> +<div class="blkquot"> +<p>"<i>To the Editor of the New York Tribune</i>:</p> +<p>"Sir: At our recent National Woman's Rights Convention +many were surprised to hear Wendell Phillips +<a name="Page_221"></a>object to the question of marriage and divorce +as irrelevant +to our platform. He said: 'We had no right to +discuss here any laws or customs but those where inequality +existed for the sexes; that the laws on marriage +and divorce rested equally on man and woman; that he +suffers, as much as she possibly could, the wrongs and +abuses of an ill-assorted marriage.'</p> +<p>"Now it must strike every careful thinker that an immense +difference rests in the fact that man has made +the laws cunningly and selfishly for his own purpose. +From Coke down to Kent, who can cite one clause of +the marriage contract where woman has the advantage? +When man suffers from false legislation he has his +remedy in his own hands. Shall woman be denied the +right of protest against laws in which she had no voice; +laws which outrage the holiest affections of her nature; +laws which transcend the limits of human legislation, in +a convention called for the express purpose of considering +her wrongs? He might as well object to a protest +against the injustice of hanging a woman, because +capital punishment bears equally on man and woman.</p> +<p>"The contract of marriage is by no means equal. The +law permits the girl to marry at twelve years of age, +while it requires several years more of experience on the +part of the boy. In entering this compact, the man +gives up nothing that he before possessed, he is a man +still; while the legal existence of the woman is suspended +during marriage, and, henceforth, she is known +but in and through the husband. She is nameless, +purseless, childless—though a woman, an heiress, and +a mother.</p> +<p>"Blackstone says: 'The husband and wife are one, +and that one is the husband.' Chancellor Kent, in his +<a name="Page_222"></a>'Commentaries' says: 'The legal effects of +marriage are +generally deducible from the principle of the common +law, by which the husband and wife are regarded as one +person, and her legal existence and authority lost or +suspended during the continuance of the matrimonial +union.'</p> +<p>"The wife is regarded by all legal authorities as a +<i>feme covert</i>, placed wholly <i>sub potestate viri</i>. Her moral +responsibility, even, is merged in her husband. The +law takes it for granted that the wife lives in fear of +her husband; that his command is her highest law; +hence a wife is not punishable for the theft committed +in the presence of her husband. An unmarried woman +can make contracts, sue and be sued, enjoy the rights of +property, to her inheritance—to her wages—to her +person—to her children; but, in marriage, she is robbed +by law of all and every natural and civil right. Kent +further says: 'The disability of the wife to contract, so +as to bind herself, arises not from want of discretion, +but because she has entered into an indissoluble connection +by which she is placed under the power and protection +of her husband.' She is possessed of certain +rights until she is married; then all are suspended, to +revive, again, the moment the breath goes out of the +husband's body. (See 'Cowen's Treatise,' vol. 2, +p. 709.)</p> +<p>"If the contract be equal, whence come the terms +'marital power,' 'marital rights,' 'obedience and restraint,' +'dominion and control,' 'power and protection,' +etc., etc.? Many cases are stated, showing the +exercise of a most questionable power over the wife, sustained +by the courts. (See 'Bishop on Divorce,' p. 489.)</p> +<p>"The laws on divorce are quite as unequal as those on +<a name="Page_223"></a>marriage; yea, far more so. The advantages seem +to +be all on one side and the penalties on the other. In +case of divorce, if the husband be not the guilty party, +the wife goes out of the partnership penniless. (Kent, +vol. 2, p. 33; 'Bishop on Divorce,' p. 492.)</p> +<p>"In New York, and some other States, the wife of the +guilty husband can now sue for a divorce in her own +name, and the costs come out of the husband's estate; +but, in the majority of the States, she is still compelled +to sue in the name of another, as she has no means for +paying costs, even though she may have brought her +thousands into the partnership. 'The allowance to the +innocent wife of <i>ad interim</i> alimony and money to sustain +the suit, is not regarded as a strict right in her, but +of sound discretion in the court.' ('Bishop on Divorce,' +p. 581.)</p> +<p>"'Many jurists,' says Kent, 'are of opinion that the +adultery of the husband ought not to be noticed or +made subject to the same animadversions as that of the +wife, because it is not evidence of such entire depravity +nor equally injurious in its effects upon the morals, good +order, and happiness of the domestic life. Montesquieu, +Pothier, and Dr. Taylor all insist that the cases +of husband and wife ought to be distinguished, and that +the violation of the marriage vow, on the part of the +wife, is the most mischievous, and the prosecution ought +to be confined to the offense on her part. ("Esprit des +Lois," tom. 3, 186; "Traité du Contrat de Mariage," +No. 516; "Elements of Civil Law," p. 254).'</p> +<p>"Say you, 'These are but the opinions of men'? On +what else, I ask, are the hundreds of women depending, +who, this hour, demand in our courts a release from +burdensome contracts? Are not these delicate matters +<a name="Page_224"></a>left wholly to the discretion of courts? Are not +young +women from the first families dragged into our courts,—into assemblies +of +men exclusively,—the judges all +men, the jurors all men? No true woman there to shield +them, by her presence, from gross and impertinent +questionings, to pity their misfortunes, or to protest +against their wrongs?</p> +<p>"The administration of justice depends far more on +the opinions of eminent jurists than on law alone, for +law is powerless when at variance with public sentiment.</p> +<p>"Do not the above citations clearly prove inequality? +Are not the very letter and spirit of the marriage contract +based on the idea of the supremacy of man as the +keeper of woman's virtue—her sole protector and support? +Out of marriage, woman asks nothing, at this +hour, but the elective franchise. It is only in marriage +that she must demand her right to person, children, +property, wages, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. +How can we discuss all the laws and conditions +of marriage, without perceiving its essential essence, end, +and aim? Now, whether the institution of marriage be +human or divine, whether regarded as indissoluble by +ecclesiastical courts or dissoluble by civil courts, +woman, finding herself equally degraded in each and +every phase of it, always the victim of the institution, it +is her right and her duty to sift the relation and the +compact through and through, until she finds out the +true cause of her false position. How can we go before +the legislatures of our respective States and demand +new laws, or no laws, on divorce, until we have +some idea of what the true relation is?</p> +<p>"We decide the whole question of slavery by settling +the sacred rights of the individual. We assert that man +<a name="Page_225"></a>cannot hold property in man, and reject the +whole code +of laws that conflicts with the self-evident truth of the +assertion.</p> +<p>"Again, I ask, is it possible to discuss all the laws of +a relation, and not touch the relation itself?</p> +<p style="margin-left: 40px;">"Yours respectfully,</p> +<p style="margin-left: 80px;">"Elizabeth Cady Stanton."</p> +</div> +<p>The discussion on the question of marriage and +divorce occupied one entire session of the convention, +and called down on us severe criticisms from the metropolitan +and State press. So alarming were the comments +on what had been said that I began to feel that +I had inadvertently taken out the underpinning from +the social system. Enemies were unsparing in their +denunciations, and friends ridiculed the whole proceeding. +I was constantly called on for a definition of marriage +and asked to describe home life as it would be +when men changed their wives every Christmas. Letters +and newspapers poured in upon me, asking all +manner of absurd questions, until I often wept with +vexation. So many things, that I had neither thought +nor said, were attributed to me that, at times, I really +doubted my own identity.</p> +<p>However, in the progress of events the excitement +died away, the earth seemed to turn on its axis as usual, +women were given in marriage, children were born, fires +burned as brightly as ever at the domestic altars, and +family life, to all appearances, was as stable as usual.</p> +<p>Public attention was again roused to this subject by +the McFarland-Richardson trial, in which the former +shot the latter, being jealous of his attentions to his +wife. McFarland was a brutal, improvident husband, +<a name="Page_226"></a>who had completely alienated his wife's +affections, while +Mr. Richardson, who had long been a cherished acquaintance +of the family, befriended the wife in the +darkest days of her misery. She was a very refined, attractive +woman, and a large circle of warm friends stood +by her through the fierce ordeal of her husband's trial.</p> +<p>Though McFarland did not deny that he killed Richardson, +yet he was acquitted on the plea of insanity, +and was, at the same time, made the legal guardian of +his child, a boy, then, twelve years of age, and walked +out of the court with him, hand in hand. What a +travesty on justice and common sense that, while a +man is declared too insane to be held responsible for +taking the life of another, he might still be capable of +directing the life and education of a child! And what +an insult to that intelligent mother, who had devoted +twelve years of her life to his care, while his worthless +father had not provided for them the necessaries of life!</p> +<p>She married Mr. Richardson on his deathbed. The +ceremony was performed by Henry Ward Beecher and +Rev. O.B. Frothingham, while such men as Horace +Greeley and Joshua Leavitt witnessed the solemn service. +Though no shadow had ever dimmed Mrs. +Richardson's fair fame, yet she was rudely treated in +the court and robbed of her child, though by far the +most fitting parent to be intrusted with his care.</p> +<p>As the indignation among women was general and at +white heat with regard to her treatment, Miss Anthony +suggested to me, one day, that it would be a golden +opportunity to give women a lesson on their helplessness +under the law—wholly in the power of man as to +their domestic relations, as well as to their civil and +political rights. Accordingly we decided to hold some +<a name="Page_227"></a>meetings, for women alone, to protest against +the decision +of this trial, the general conduct of the case, the +tone of the press, and the laws that made it possible +to rob a mother of her child.</p> +<p>Many ladies readily enlisted in the movement. I was +invited to make the speech on the occasion, and Miss +Anthony arranged for two great meetings, one in +Apollo Hall, New York city, and one in the Academy of +Music, in Brooklyn. The result was all that we could +desire. Miss Anthony, with wonderful executive +ability, made all the arrangements, taking on her own +shoulders the whole financial responsibility.</p> +<p>My latest thought on this question I gave in <i>The +Arena</i> of April, 1894, from which I quote the following:</p> +<div class="blkquot"> +<p>"There is a demand just now for an amendment to +the United States Constitution that shall make the laws +of marriage and divorce the same in all the States of +the Union. As the suggestion comes uniformly from +those who consider the present divorce laws too liberal, +we may infer that the proposed national law is to place +the whole question on a narrower basis, rendering null +and void the laws that have been passed in a broader +spirit, according to the needs and experiences, in certain +sections, of the sovereign people. And here let us bear +in mind that the widest possible law would not make divorce +obligatory on anyone, while a restricted law, on +the contrary, would compel many, marrying, perhaps, +under more liberal laws, to remain in uncongenial +relations.</p> +<p>"As we are still in the experimental stage on this +question, we are not qualified to make a perfect law +that would work satisfactorily over so vast an area +as our boundaries now embrace. I see no evidence in +<a name="Page_228"></a>what has been published on this question, of +late, by +statesmen, ecclesiastics, lawyers, and judges, that any +of them have thought sufficiently on the subject to prepare +a well-digested code, or a comprehensive amendment +to the national Constitution. Some view it +as a civil contract, though not governed by the +laws of other contracts; some view it as a religious +ordinance—a sacrament; some think it a relation to +be regulated by the State, others by the Church, and +still others think it should be left wholly to the individual. +With this wide divergence of opinion among +our leading minds, it is quite evident that we are not +prepared for a national law.</p> +<p>"Moreover, as woman is the most important factor +in the marriage relation, her enfranchisement is the +primal step in deciding the basis of family life. Before +public opinion on this question crystallizes into an +amendment to the national Constitution, the wife and +mother must have a voice in the governing power and +must be heard, on this great problem, in the halls of +legislation.</p> +<p>"There are many advantages in leaving all these +questions, as now, to the States. Local self-government +more readily permits of experiments on mooted +questions, which are the outcome of the needs and convictions +of the community. The smaller the area over +which legislation extends, the more pliable are the +laws. By leaving the States free to experiment in their +local affairs, we can judge of the working of different +laws under varying circumstances, and thus learn their +comparative merits. The progress education has +achieved in America is due to the fact that we have +left our system of public instruction in the hands of +<a name="Page_229"></a>local authorities. How different would be the +solution +of the great educational question of manual labor in the +schools, if the matter had to be settled at Washington!</p> +<p>"The whole nation might find itself pledged to a +scheme that a few years would prove wholly impracticable. +Not only is the town meeting, as Emerson says, +'the cradle of American liberties,' but it is the nursery +of Yankee experiment and wisdom. England, with its +clumsy national code of education, making one inflexible +standard of scholarship for the bright children of +the manufacturing districts and the dull brains of the +agricultural counties, should teach us a lesson as to +the wisdom of keeping apart state and national +government.</p> +<p>"Before we can decide the just grounds for divorce, +we must get a clear idea of what constitutes marriage. +In a true relation the chief object is the loving +companionship of man and woman, their capacity for +mutual help and happiness and for the development of +all that is noblest in each other. The second object is +the building up a home and family, a place of rest, peace, +security, in which child-life can bud and blossom like +flowers in the sunshine.</p> +<p>"The first step toward making the ideal the real, is +to educate our sons and daughters into the most exalted +ideas of the sacredness of married life and the responsibilities +of parenthood. I would have them give, at +least, as much thought to the creation of an immortal +being as the artist gives to his landscape or statue. +Watch him in his hours of solitude, communing with +great Nature for days and weeks in all her changing +moods, and when at last his dream of beauty is realized +and takes a clearly defined form, behold how patiently +<a name="Page_230"></a>he works through long months and years on sky +and +lake, on tree and flower; and when complete, it represents +to him more love and life, more hope and ambition, +than the living child at his side, to whose conception +and antenatal development not one soulful thought +was ever given. To this impressible period of human +life, few parents give any thought; yet here we must +begin to cultivate virtues that can alone redeem the +world.</p> +<p>"The contradictory views in which woman is represented +are as pitiful as varied. While the Magnificat to +the Virgin is chanted in all our cathedrals round the +globe on each returning Sabbath day, and her motherhood +extolled by her worshipers, maternity for the +rest of womankind is referred to as a weakness, a disability, +a curse, an evidence of woman's divinely ordained +subjection. Yet surely the real woman should have +some points of resemblance in character and position +with the ideal one, whom poets, novelists, and artists +portray.</p> +<p>"It is folly to talk of the sacredness of marriage +and maternity, while the wife is practically regarded +as an inferior, a subject, a slave. Having +decided that companionship and conscientious parenthood +are the only true grounds for marriage, if the +relation brings out the worst characteristics of each +party, or if the home atmosphere is unwholesome for +children, is not the very <i>raison d'être</i> of the union +wanting, +and the marriage practically annulled? It cannot +be called a holy relation,—no, not a desirable one,—when +love and mutual respect are wanting. And let +us bear in mind one other important fact: the lack of +sympathy and content in the parents indicates radical +<a name="Page_231"></a>physical unsuitability, which results in badly +organized +offspring. If, then, the real object of marriage is defeated, +it is for the interest of the State, as well as the +individual concerned, to see that all such pernicious +unions be legally dissolved. Inasmuch, then, as incompatibility +of temper defeats the two great objects +of marriage, it should be the primal cause for divorce.</p> +<p>"The true standpoint from which to view this question +is individual sovereignty, individual happiness. It +is often said that the interests of society are paramount, +and first to be considered. This was the Roman idea, +the Pagan idea, that the individual was made for the +State. The central idea of barbarism has ever been the +family, the tribe, the nation—never the individual. But +the great doctrine of Christianity is the right of individual +conscience and judgment. The reason it took +such a hold on the hearts of the people was because it +taught that the individual was primary; the State, the +Church, society, the family, secondary. However, a +comprehensive view of any question of human interest, +shows that the highest good and happiness of the individual +and society lie in the same direction.</p> +<p>"The question of divorce, like marriage, should be +settled, as to its most sacred relations, by the parties +themselves; neither the State nor the Church having +any right to intermeddle therein. As to property and +children, it must be viewed and regulated as a civil contract. +Then the union should be dissolved with at least +as much deliberation and publicity as it was formed. +There might be some ceremony and witnesses to add +to the dignity and solemnity of the occasion. Like the +Quaker marriage, which the parties conduct themselves, +so, in this case, without any statement of their disagree<a + name="Page_232"></a>ments, +the parties might simply declare that, after living +together for several years, they found themselves +unsuited to each other, and incapable of making a happy +home.</p> +<p>"If divorce were made respectable, and recognized +by society as a duty, as well as a right, reasonable men +and women could arrange all the preliminaries, often, +even, the division of property and guardianship of children, +quite as satisfactorily as it could be done in the +courts. Where the mother is capable of training +the children, a sensible father would leave them to +her care rather than place them in the hands of a +stranger.</p> +<p>"But, where divorce is not respectable, men who +have no paternal feeling will often hold the child, not +so much for its good or his own affection, as to punish +the wife for disgracing him. The love of children is not +strong in most men, and they feel but little responsibility +in regard to them. See how readily they turn off young +sons to shift for themselves, and, unless the law compelled +them to support their illegitimate children, they +would never give them a second thought. But on the +mother-soul rest forever the care and responsibility of +human life. Her love for the child born out of wedlock +is often intensified by the infinite pity she feels +through its disgrace. Even among the lower animals +we find the female ever brooding over the young and +helpless.</p> +<p>"Limiting the causes of divorce to physical defects +or delinquencies; making the proceedings public; prying +into all the personal affairs of unhappy men and +women; regarding the step as quasi criminal; punishing +the guilty party in the suit; all this will not strengthen +<a name="Page_233"></a>frail human nature, will not insure happy homes, +will +not banish scandals and purge society of prostitution.</p> +<p>"No, no; the enemy of marriage, of the State, of +society is not liberal divorce laws, but the unhealthy +atmosphere that exists in the home itself. A legislative +act cannot make a unit of a divided family."</p> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XV"></a> +<h2><a name="Page_234"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2> +<h2>WOMEN AS PATRIOTS.</h2> +<br> +<p>On April 15, 1861, the President of the United States +called out seventy-five thousand militia, and summoned +Congress to meet July 4, when four hundred thousand +men were called for, and four hundred millions of dollars +were voted to suppress the Rebellion.</p> +<p>These startling events roused the entire people, and +turned the current of their thoughts in new directions. +While the nation's life hung in the balance, and the +dread artillery of war drowned, alike, the voices of commerce, +politics, religion, and reform, all hearts were +filled with anxious forebodings, all hands were busy in +solemn preparations for the awful tragedies to come.</p> +<p>At this eventful hour the patriotism of woman shone +forth as fervently and spontaneously as did that of man; +and her self-sacrifice and devotion were displayed in as +many varied fields of action. While he buckled on his +knapsack and marched forth to conquer the enemy, she +planned the campaigns which brought the nation victory; +fought in the ranks, when she could do so without +detection; inspired the sanitary commission; gathered +needed supplies for the grand army; provided nurses +for the hospitals; comforted the sick; smoothed the pillows +of the dying; inscribed the last messages of lave +to those far away; and marked the resting places where +the brave men fell. The labor women accomplished, +<a name="Page_235"></a>the hardships they endured, the time and +strength they +sacrificed in the War that summoned three million men +to arms, can never be fully appreciated.</p> +<p>Indeed, we may safely say that there is scarcely a +loyal woman in the North who did not do something in +aid of the cause; who did not contribute time, labor, and +money to the comfort of our soldiers and the success +of our arms. The story of the War will never be fully +written if the achievements of women are left untold. +They do not figure in the official reports; they +are not gazetted for gallant deeds; the names of thousands +are unknown beyond the neighborhood where +they lived, or the hospitals where they loved to labor; +yet there is no feature in our War more creditable to us +as a nation, none from its positive newness so well +worthy of record.</p> +<p>While the mass of women never philosophize on the +principles that underlie national existence, there were +those in our late War who understood the political significance +of the struggle; the "irrepressible conflict" +between freedom and slavery, between National and +State rights. They saw that to provide lint, bandages, +and supplies for the army, while the War was not conducted +on a wise policy, was to labor in vain; and while +many organizations, active, vigilant, and self-sacrificing, +were multiplied to look after the material wants of the +army, these few formed themselves into a National Loyal +League, to teach sound principles of government and +to impress on the nation's conscience that freedom for +the slaves was the only way to victory. Accustomed, +as most women had been to works of charity and to the +relief of outward suffering, it was difficult to rouse their +enthusiasm for an idea, to persuade them to labor for +<a name="Page_236"></a>a principle. They clamored for practical work, +something +for their hands to do; for fairs and sewing societies +to raise money for soldier's families, for tableaux, readings, +theatricals—anything but conventions to discuss +principles and to circulate petitions for emancipation. +They could not see that the best service they could +render the army was to suppress the Rebellion, and that +the most effective way to accomplish that was to transform +the slaves into soldiers. This Woman's Loyal +League voiced the solemn lessons of the War: Liberty +to all; national protection for every citizen under our +flag; universal suffrage, and universal amnesty.</p> +<p>After consultation with Horace Greeley, William +Lloyd Garrison, Governor Andrews, and Robert Dale +Owen, Miss Anthony and I decided to call a meeting of +women in Cooper Institute and form a Woman's Loyal +League, to advocate the immediate emancipation and +enfranchisement of the Southern slaves, as the most +speedy way of ending the War, so we issued, in tract +form, and extensively circulated the following call:</p> +<div class="blkquot"> +<p>"In this crisis of our country's destiny, it is the duty +of every citizen to consider the peculiar blessings of a +republican form of government, and decide what sacrifices +of wealth and life are demanded for its defense and +preservation. The policy of the War, our whole future +life, depend on a clearly defined idea of the end proposed +and the immense advantages to be secured to +ourselves and all mankind by its accomplishment. No +mere party or sectional cry, no technicalities of constitutional +or military law, no mottoes of craft or policy are +big enough to touch the great heart of a nation in the +midst of revolution. A grand idea—such as freedom +<a name="Page_237"></a>or justice—is needful to kindle and sustain the +fires of +a high enthusiasm.</p> +<p>"At this hour, the best word and work of every man +and woman are imperatively demanded. To man, by +common consent, are assigned the forum, camp, and +field. What is woman's legitimate work and how she +may best accomplish it, is worthy our earnest counsel +one with another. We have heard many complaints of +the lack of enthusiasm, among Northern women; but +when a mother lays her son on the altar of her country, +she asks an object equal to the sacrifice. In nursing the +sick and wounded, knitting socks, scraping lint, and +making jellies the bravest and best may weary if the +thoughts mount not in faith to something beyond and +above it all. Work is worship only when a noble purpose +fills the soul. Woman is equally interested and +responsible with man in the final settlement of this +problem of self-government; therefore let none stand +idle spectators now. When every hour is big with +destiny, and each delay but complicates our difficulties, +it is high time for the daughters of the Revolution, in +solemn council, to unseal the last will and testaments of +the fathers, lay hold of their birthright of freedom, and +keep it a sacred trust for all coming generations.</p> +<p>"To this end we ask the Loyal Women of the Nation +to meet in the Church of the Puritans (Dr. Cheever's), +New York, on Thursday, the 14th of May next.</p> +<p>"Let the women of every State be largely represented +in person or by letter.</p> +<p style="margin-left: 40px;">"On behalf of the Woman's Central +Committee,</p> +<p style="margin-left: 80px;">"Elizabeth Cady Stanton,<br> +"Susan B. Anthony."</p> +</div> +<p><a name="Page_238"></a>Among other resolutions adopted at the +meeting +were the following:</p> +<div class="blkquot"> +<p>"<i>Resolved</i>, There never can be a true peace in this +Republic until the civil and political rights of all citizens +of African descent and all women are practically +established.</p> +<p>"<i>Resolved</i>, That the women of the Revolution were +not wanting in heroism and self-sacrifice, and we, their +daughters, are ready, in this War, to pledge our time, +our means, our talents, and our lives, if need be, to +secure the final and complete consecration of America +to freedom."</p> +</div> +<p>It was agreed that the practical work to be done to +secure freedom for the slaves was to circulate petitions +through all the Northern States. For months these +petitions were circulated diligently everywhere, as the +signatures show—some signed on fence posts, plows, +the anvil, the shoemaker's bench—by women of +fashion and those in the industries, alike in the parlor +and the kitchen; by statesmen, professors in colleges, +editors, bishops; by sailors, and soldiers, and +the hard-handed children of toil, building railroads and +bridges, and digging canals, and in mines in the bowels +of the earth. Petitions, signed by three hundred thousand +persons, can now be seen in the national archives +in the Capitol at Washington. Three of my sons spent +weeks in our office in Cooper Institute, rolling up the +petitions from each State separately, and inscribing on +the outside the number of names of men and women +contained therein. We sent appeals to the President +the House of Representatives, and the Senate, from +time to time, urging emancipation and the passage of +<a name="Page_239"></a>the proposed Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and +Fifteenth +Amendments to the National Constitution. During +these eventful months we received many letters from +Senator Sumner, saying, "Send on the petitions as fast +as received; they give me opportunities for speech."</p> +<p>Robert Dale Owen, chairman of the Freedman's +Commission, was most enthusiastic in the work of the +Loyal League, and came to our rooms frequently to +suggest new modes of agitation and to give us an inkling +of what was going on behind the scenes in Washington. +Those who had been specially engaged in the +Woman Suffrage movement suspended their conventions +during the war, and gave their time and thought +wholly to the vital issues of the hour. Seeing the political +significance of the war, they urged the emancipation +of the slaves as the sure, quick way of cutting the +Gordian knot of the Rebellion. To this end they +organized a national league, and rolled up a mammoth +petition, urging Congress so to amend the Constitution +as to prohibit the existence of slavery in the United +States. From their headquarters in Cooper Institute, +New York city, they sent out the appeals to the President, +Congress, and the people at large; tracts and +forms of petition, franked by members of Congress, were +scattered like snowflakes from Maine to Texas. Meetings +were held every week, in which the policy of the +Government was freely discussed, and approved or condemned.</p> +<p>That this League did a timely educational work is +manifested by the letters received from generals, statesmen, +editors, and from women in most of the Northern +States, fully indorsing its action and principles. The +clearness to thinking women of the cause of the War; +<a name="Page_240"></a>the true policy in waging it; their +steadfastness in +maintaining the principles of freedom, are worthy of +consideration. With this League abolitionists and Republicans +heartily co-operated. A course of lectures +was delivered for its benefit in Cooper Institute, by +such men as Horace Greeley, George William Curtis, +William D. Kelly, Wendell Phillips, E.P. Whipple, +Frederick Douglass, Theodore D. Weld, Rev. Dr. +Tyng, and Dr. Bellows. Many letters are on its +files from Charles Sumner, approving its measures, +and expressing great satisfaction at the large number +of emancipation petitions being rolled into +Congress. The Republican press, too, was highly +complimentary. The New York Tribune said: "The +women of the Loyal League have shown great practical +wisdom in restricting their efforts to one subject, +the most important which any society can aim at +in this hour, and great courage in undertaking to do +what never has been done in the world before, to obtain +one million of names to a petition."</p> +<p>The leading journals vied with each other in praising +the patience and prudence, the executive ability, the +loyalty, and the patriotism of the women of the League, +and yet these were the same women who, when demanding +civil and political rights, privileges, and immunities +for themselves, had been uniformly denounced as "unwise," +"imprudent," "fanatical," and "impracticable." +During the six years they held their own claims in +abeyance to those of the slaves of the South, and +labored to inspire the people with enthusiasm for the +great measures of the Republican party, they were +highly honored as "wise, loyal, and clear-sighted." But +when the slaves were emancipated, and these women +<a name="Page_241"></a>asked that they should be recognized in the +reconstruction +as citizens of the Republic, equal before the law, all +these transcendent virtues vanished like dew before the +morning sun. And thus it ever is: so long as woman +labors to second man's endeavors and exalt his sex above +her own, her virtues pass unquestioned; but when she +dares to demand rights and privileges for herself, her +motives, manners, dress, personal appearance, and character +are subjects for ridicule and detraction.</p> +<p>Liberty, victorious over slavery on the battlefield, had +now more powerful enemies to encounter at Washington. +The slaves set free, the master conquered, the +South desolate; the two races standing face to face, +sharing alike the sad results of war, turned with appealing +looks to the general government, as if to say, +"How stand we now?" "What next?" Questions +our statesmen, beset with dangers, with fears for the +nation's life, of party divisions, of personal defeat, were +wholly unprepared to answer. The reconstruction of +the South involved the reconsideration of the fundamental +principles of our Government and the natural +rights of man. The nation's heart was thrilled with +prolonged debates in Congress and State legislatures, +in the pulpits and public journals, and at every fireside +on these vital questions, which took final shape in the +three historic amendments to the Constitution.</p> +<p>The first point, his emancipation, settled, the political +status of the negro was next in order; and to this end +various propositions were submitted to Congress. But +to demand his enfranchisement on the broad principle +of natural rights was hedged about with difficulties, as +the logical result of such action must be the enfranchisement +of all ostracized classes; not only the white +<a name="Page_242"></a>women of the entire country, but the slave women +of +the South. Though our senators and representatives +had an honest aversion to any proscriptive legislation +against loyal women, in view of their varied and self-sacrificing +work during the War, yet the only way they +could open the constitutional door just wide enough to +let the black man pass in was to introduce the word +"male" into the national Constitution. After the +generous devotion of such women as Anna Carroll and +Anna Dickinson in sustaining the policy of the Republicans, +both in peace and war, they felt it would come +with a bad grace from that party to place new barriers +in woman's path to freedom. But how could the +amendment be written without the word "male," was +the question.</p> +<p>Robert Dale Owen being at Washington, and behind +the scenes at the time, sent copies of the various bills +to the officers of the Loyal League, in New York, and +related to us some of the amusing discussions. One of +the committee proposed "persons" instead of "males." +"That will never do," said another, "it would enfranchise +wenches." "Suffrage for black men will be all +the strain the Republican party can stand," said another. +Charles Sumner said, years afterward, that he +wrote over nineteen pages of foolscap to get rid of the +word "male" and yet keep "negro suffrage" as a +party measure intact; but it could not be done.</p> +<p>Miss Anthony and I were the first to see the full significance +of the word "male" in the Fourteenth +Amendment, and we at once sounded the alarm, and +sent out petitions for a constitutional amendment to +"prohibit the States from disfranchising any of their +citizens on the ground of sex." Miss Anthony, who +<a name="Page_243"></a>had spent the year in Kansas, started for New +York the +moment she saw the proposition before Congress to put +the word "male" into the national Constitution, and +made haste to rouse the women in the East to the fact +that the time had come to begin vigorous work again +for woman's enfranchisement.</p> +<p>Leaving Rochester, October 11, she called on Martha +Wright at Auburn; Phebe Jones and Lydia Mott at +Albany; Mmes. Rose, Gibbons, Davis, at New York +city; Lucy Stone and Antoinette Brown Blackwell in +New Jersey; Stephen and Abby Foster at Worcester; +Mmes. Severance, Dall, Nowell, Dr. Harriet K. Hunt, +Dr. M.E. Zackesewska, and Messrs. Phillips and Garrison +in Boston, urging them to join in sending protests +to Washington against the pending legislation. Mr. +Phillips at once consented to devote five hundred dollars +from the "Jackson Fund" to commence the work. +Miss Anthony and I spent all our Christmas holidays +in writing letters and addressing appeals and petitions +to every part of the country, and, before the close of +the session of 1865-66, petitions with ten thousand signatures +were poured into Congress.</p> +<p>One of my letters was as follows:</p> +<div class="blkquot"> +<p>"<i>To the Editor of the Standard</i>:</p> +<p>"Sir: Mr. Broomall of Pennsylvania, Mr. Schenck of +Ohio, Mr. Jenckes of Rhode Island, and Mr. Stevens +of Pennsylvania, have each a resolution before Congress +to amend the Constitution.</p> +<p>"Article First, Section Second, reads thus: 'Representatives +and direct taxes shall be apportioned among +the several States which may be included within this +Union, according to their respective numbers.'</p> +<p>"<a name="Page_244"></a>Mr. Broomall proposes to amend by saying, +'male +electors'; Mr. Schenck,'male citizens'; Mr. Jenckes, +'male citizens'; Mr. Stevens, 'male voters,' as, in process +of time, women may be made 'legal voters' in +the several States, and would then meet that requirement +of the Constitution. But those urged by the +other gentlemen, neither time, effort, nor State Constitutions +could enable us to meet, unless, by a liberal interpretation +of the amendment, a coat of mail to be worn +at the polls might be judged all-sufficient. Mr. Jenckes +and Mr. Schenck, in their bills, have the grace not to say +a word about taxes, remembering, perhaps, that 'taxation +without representation is tyranny.' But Mr. +Broomall, though unwilling that we should share in the +honors of government, would fain secure us a place in +its burdens; for, while he apportions representatives to +"male electors" only, he admits "all the inhabitants" +into the rights, privileges, and immunities of taxation. +Magnanimous M.C.!</p> +<p>"I would call the attention of the women of the +nation to the fact that, under the Federal Constitution, +as it now exists, there is not one word that limits the +right of suffrage to any privileged class. This attempt +to turn the wheels of civilization backward, on the part +of Republicans claiming to be the liberal party, should +rouse every woman in the nation to a prompt exercise +of the only right she has in the Government, the right +of petition. To this end a committee in New York +have sent out thousands of petitions, which should be +circulated in every district and sent to its representative +at Washington as soon as possible.</p> +<p style="margin-left: 40px;">"Elizabeth Cady Stanton.</p> +<p style="margin-left: 80px;">"New York, January 2, 1866."</p> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XVI"></a> +<h2><a name="Page_245"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> +<h2>PIONEER LIFE IN KANSAS—OUR NEWSPAPER, "THE +REVOLUTION."</h2> +<br> +<p>In 1867 the proposition to extend the suffrage to +women and to colored men was submitted to the people +of the State of Kansas, and, among other Eastern +speakers, I was invited to make a campaign through +the State. As the fall elections were pending, there +was great excitement everywhere. Suffrage for colored +men was a Republican measure, which the press and +politicians of that party advocated with enthusiasm.</p> +<p>As woman suffrage was not a party question, we +hoped that all parties would favor the measure; that we +might, at last, have one green spot on earth where +women could enjoy full liberty as citizens of the United +States. Accordingly, in July, Miss Anthony and I +started, with high hopes of a most successful trip, and, +after an uneventful journey of one thousand five hundred +miles, we reached the sacred soil where John +Brown and his sons had helped to fight the battles that +made Kansas a free State.</p> +<p>Lucy Stone, Mr. Blackwell, and Olympia Brown had +preceded us and opened the campaign with large meetings +in all the chief cities. Miss Anthony and I did the +same. Then it was decided that, as we were to go to +the very borders of the State, where there were no +railroads, we must take carriages, and economize our +forces by taking different routes. I was escorted by +<a name="Page_246"></a>ex-Governor Charles Robinson. We had a low, easy +carriage, drawn by two mules, in which we stored about +a bushel of tracts, two valises, a pail for watering the +mules, a basket of apples, crackers, and other such refreshments +as we could purchase on the way. Some +things were suspended underneath the carriage, some +packed on behind, and some under the seat and at our +feet. It required great skill to compress the necessary +baggage into the allotted space. As we went to the +very verge of civilization, wherever two dozen voters +could be assembled, we had a taste of pioneer life. We +spoke in log cabins, in depots, unfinished schoolhouses, +churches, hotels, barns, and in the open air.</p> +<p>I spoke in a large mill one night. A solitary tallow +candle shone over my head like a halo of glory; a few +lanterns around the outskirts of the audience made the +darkness perceptible; but all I could see of my audience +was the whites of their eyes in the dim distance. People +came from twenty miles around to these meetings, +held either in the morning, afternoon, or evening, as +was most convenient.</p> +<p>As the regular State election was to take place in the +coming November, the interest increased from week to +week, until the excitement of the people knew no +bounds. There were speakers for and against every +proposition before the people. This involved frequent +debates on all the general principles of government, +and thus a great educational work was accomplished, +which is one of the advantages of our frequent elections.</p> +<p>The friends of woman suffrage were doomed to disappointment. +Those in the East, on whom they relied +for influence through the liberal newspapers, were +silent, and we learned, afterward, that they used what +<a name="Page_247"></a>influence they had to keep the abolitionists and +Republicans +of the State silent, as they feared the discussion +of the woman question would jeopardize the enfranchisement +of the black man. However, we worked +untiringly and hopefully, not seeing through the game +of the politicians until nearly the end of the canvass, +when we saw that our only chance was in getting the +Democratic vote. Accordingly, George Francis Train, +then a most effective and popular speaker, was invited +into the State to see what could be done to win the +Democracy. He soon turned the tide, strengthened +the weak-kneed Republicans and abolitionists, and +secured a large Democratic vote.</p> +<p>For three months we labored diligently, day after +day, enduring all manner of discomforts in traveling, +eating, and sleeping. As there were no roads or guide-posts, +we often lost our way. In going through cañons +and fording streams it was often so dark that the Governor +was obliged to walk ahead to find the way, taking +off his coat so that I could see his white shirt and slowly +drive after him. Though seemingly calm and cool, I +had a great dread of these night adventures, as I was +in constant fear of being upset on some hill and rolled +into the water. The Governor often complimented me +on my courage, when I was fully aware of being tempest-tossed +with anxiety. I am naturally very timid, +but, being silent under strong emotions of either pleasure +or pain, I am credited with being courageous in the +hour of danger.</p> +<p>For days, sometimes, we could find nothing at a +public table that we could eat. Then passing through +a little settlement we could buy dried herring, crackers, +gum arabic, and slippery elm; the latter, we were told, +<a name="Page_248"></a>was very nutritious. We frequently sat down to a +table +with bacon floating in grease, coffee without milk, +sweetened with sorghum, and bread or hot biscuit, +green with soda, while vegetables and fruit were seldom +seen. Our nights were miserable, owing to the general +opinion among pioneers that a certain species of insect +must necessarily perambulate the beds in a young civilization. +One night, after traveling over prairies all day, +eating nothing but what our larder provided, we saw +a light in a cottage in the distance which seemed +to beckon to us. Arriving, we asked the usual question,—if +we could get a night's lodging,—to which +the response was inevitably a hearty, hospitable +"Yes." One survey of the premises showed me what +to look for in the way of midnight companionship, so I +said to the Governor, "I will resign in your favor the +comforts provided for me to-night, and sleep in the +carriage, as you do so often." I persisted against all +the earnest persuasions of our host, and in due time I +was ensconced for the night, and all about the house was +silent.</p> +<p>I had just fallen into a gentle slumber, when a chorus +of pronounced grunts and a spasmodic shaking of the +carriage revealed to me the fact that I was surrounded +by those long-nosed black pigs, so celebrated for their +courage and pertinacity. They had discovered that +the iron steps of the carriage made most satisfactory +scratching posts, and each one was struggling for his +turn. This scratching suggested fleas. Alas! thought +I, before morning I shall be devoured. I was mortally +tired and sleepy, but I reached for the whip and plied it +lazily from side to side; but I soon found nothing but a +constant and most vigorous application of the whip +<a name="Page_249"></a>could hold them at bay one moment. I had heard +that +this type of pig was very combative when thwarted in +its desires, and they seemed in such sore need of relief +that I thought there was danger of their jumping into +the carriage and attacking me. This thought was more +terrifying than that of the fleas, so I decided to go to +sleep and let them alone to scratch at their pleasure. I +had a sad night of it, and never tried the carriage again, +though I had many equally miserable experiences +within four walls.</p> +<p>After one of these border meetings we stopped another +night with a family of two bachelor brothers and +two spinster sisters. The home consisted of one large +room, not yet lathed and plastered. The furniture included +a cooking stove, two double beds in remote +corners, a table, a bureau, a washstand, and six wooden +chairs. As it was late, there was no fire in the stove +and no suggestion of supper, so the Governor and I +ate apples and chewed slippery elm before retiring to +dream of comfortable beds and well-spread tables in the +near future.</p> +<p>The brothers resigned their bed to me just as it was. +I had noticed that there was no ceremonious changing +of bed linen under such circumstances, so I +had learned to nip all fastidious notions of individual +cleanliness in the bud, and to accept the inevitable. +When the time arrived for retiring, the +Governor and the brothers went out to make astronomical +observations or smoke, as the case might +be, while the sisters and I made our evening toilet, and +disposed ourselves in the allotted corners. That done, +the stalwart sons of Adam made their beds with skins +and blankets on the floor. When all was still and dark<a name="Page_250"></a>ness +reigned, I reviewed the situation with a heavy +heart, seeing that I was bound to remain a prisoner in +the corner all night, come what might. I had just congratulated +myself on my power of adaptability to circumstances, +when I suddenly started with an emphatic +"What is that?" A voice from the corner asked, "Is +your bed comfortable?" "Oh, yes," I replied, "but +I thought I felt a mouse run over my head." "Well," +said the voice from the corner, "I should not wonder. +I have heard such squeaking from that corner during +the past week that I told sister there must be a mouse +nest in that bed." A confession she probably would +not have made unless half asleep. This announcement +was greeted with suppressed laughter from the floor. +But it was no laughing matter to me. Alas! what a +prospect—to have mice running over one all night. +But there was no escape. The sisters did not offer to +make any explorations, and, in my fatigue costume, I +could not light a candle and make any on my own account. +The house did not afford an armchair in which +I could sit up. I could not lie on the floor, and the +other bed was occupied. Fortunately, I was very tired +and soon fell asleep. What the mice did the remainder +of the night I never knew, so deep were my slumbers. +But, as my features were intact, and my facial +expression as benign as usual next morning, I inferred +that their gambols had been most innocently and decorously +conducted. These are samples of many similar +experiences which we encountered during the three +months of those eventful travels.</p> +<p>Heretofore my idea had been that pioneer life was a +period of romantic freedom. When the long, white-covered +wagons, bound for the far West, passed by, I +<a name="Page_251"></a>thought of the novelty of a six-months' journey +through +the bright spring and summer days in a house on +wheels, meals under shady trees and beside babbling +brooks, sleeping in the open air, and finding a home, at +last, where land was cheap, the soil rich and deep, and +where the grains, vegetables, fruit, and flowers grew +bountifully with but little toil. But a few months +of pioneer life permanently darkened my rosy ideal +of the white-covered wagon, the charming picnics +by the way, and the paradise at last. I found many +of these adventurers in unfinished houses and racked +with malaria; in one case I saw a family of eight, +all ill with chills and fever. The house was half a +mile from the spring water on which they depended +and from which those best able, from day to day, carried +the needed elixir to others suffering with the usual +thirst. Their narrations of all the trials of the long +journey were indeed heartrending.</p> +<p>In one case a family of twelve left their comfortable +farm in Illinois, much against the earnest protests +of the mother; she having ten children, the +youngest a baby then in her arms. All their earthly +possessions were stored in three wagons, and the +farm which the mother owned was sold before +they commenced their long and perilous journey. +There was no reason for going except that the husband +had the Western fever. They were doing well in Illinois, +on a large farm within two miles of a village, but +he had visions of a bonanza near the setting sun. Accordingly +they started. At the end of one month the +baby died. A piece of wood from the cradle was all +they had to mark its lonely resting place. With sad +hearts they went on, and, in a few weeks, with grief for +<a name="Page_252"></a>her child, her old home, her kindred and +friends, the +mother also died. She, too, was left alone on the far-off +prairies, and the sad pageant moved on. Another +child soon shared the same fate, and then a span of +horses died, and one wagon, with all the things they +could most easily spare, was abandoned. Arrived at +their destination none of the golden dreams was realized. +The expensive journey, the struggles in starting +under new circumstances, and the loss of the mother's +thrift and management, made the father so discouraged +and reckless that much of his property was wasted, and +his earthly career was soon ended. Through the heroic +energy and good management of the eldest daughter, +the little patrimony, in time, was doubled, and the children +well brought up and educated in the rudiments of +learning, so that all became respectable members of +society. Her advice to all young people is, if you are +comfortably established in the East, stay there. There +is no royal road to wealth and ease, even in the Western +States!</p> +<p>In spite of the discomforts we suffered in the Kansas +campaign, I was glad of the experience. It gave me +added self-respect to know that I could endure such +hardships and fatigue with a great degree of cheerfulness. +The Governor and I often laughed heartily, as we +patiently chewed our gum arabic and slippery elm, to +think on what a gentle stimulus we were accomplishing +such wonderful feats as orators and travelers. It was +fortunate our intense enthusiasm for the subject gave +us all the necessary inspiration, as the supplies we +gathered by the way were by no means sufficiently invigorating +for prolonged propagandism.</p> +<p>I enjoyed these daily drives over the vast prairies, lis<a + name="Page_253"></a>tening +to the Governor's descriptions of the early days +when the "bushwhackers and jayhawkers" made their +raids on the inhabitants of the young free State. The +courage and endurance of the women, surrounded by +dangers and discomforts, surpassed all description. +I count it a great privilege to have made the acquaintance +of so many noble women and men who had passed +through such scenes and conquered such difficulties. +They seemed to live in an atmosphere altogether beyond +their surroundings. Many educated families from +New England, disappointed in not finding the much +talked of bonanzas, were living in log cabins, in solitary +places, miles from any neighbors. But I found Emerson, +Parker, Holmes, Hawthorne, Whittier, and Lowell +on their bookshelves to gladden their leisure hours.</p> +<p>Miss Anthony and I often comforted ourselves mid +adverse winds with memories of the short time we spent +under Mother Bickerdyke's hospitable roof at Salina. +There we had clean, comfortable beds, delicious viands, +and everything was exquisitely neat. She entertained +us with her reminiscences of the War. With great self-denial +she had served her country in camp and hospital, +and was with Sherman's army in that wonderful march +to the sea, and here we found her on the outpost of +civilization, determined to start what Kansas most +needed—a good hotel. But alas! it was too good for +that latitude and proved a financial failure. It was, to +us, an oasis in the desert, where we would gladly have +lingered if the opposition would have come to us for +conversion. But, as we had to carry the gospel of +woman's equality into the highways and hedges, we left +dear Mother Bickerdyke with profound regret. The +seed sown in Kansas in 1867 is now bearing its +<a name="Page_254"></a>legitimate fruits. There was not a county in the +State +where meetings were not held or tracts scattered with +a generous hand. If the friends of our cause in the East +had been true and had done for woman what they did +for the colored man, I believe both propositions would +have been carried; but with a narrow policy, playing off +one against the other, both were defeated. A policy +of injustice always bears its own legitimate fruit in +failure.</p> +<p>However, women learned one important lesson—namely, +that it is impossible for the best of men +to understand women's feelings or the humiliation +of their position. When they asked us to be silent +on our question during the War, and labor for the +emancipation of the slave, we did so, and gave +five years to his emancipation and enfranchisement. +To this proposition my friend, Susan B. Anthony, +never consented, but was compelled to yield because +no one stood with her. I was convinced, at +the time, that it was the true policy. I am now equally +sure that it was a blunder, and, ever since, I have +taken my beloved Susan's judgment against the world. +I have always found that, when we see eye to eye, we +are sure to be right, and when we pull together we are +strong. After we discuss any point together and fully +agree, our faith in our united judgment is immovable +and no amount of ridicule and opposition has the +slightest influence, come from what quarter it may.</p> +<p>Together we withstood the Republicans and abolitionists, +when, a second time, they made us the most +solemn promises of earnest labor for our enfranchisement, +when the slaves were safe beyond a peradventure. +They never redeemed their promise made during the +<a name="Page_255"></a>War, hence, when they urged us to silence in the +Kansas +campaign, we would not for a moment entertain the +proposition. The women generally awoke to their +duty to themselves. They had been deceived once and +could not be again. If the leaders in the Republican +and abolition camps could deceive us, whom could we +trust?</p> +<p>Again we were urged to be silent on our rights, when +the proposition to take the word "white" out of the +New York Constitution was submitted to a vote of the +people of the State, or, rather, to one-half the people, as +women had no voice in the matter. Again we said +"No, no, gentlemen! if the 'white' comes out of the +Constitution, let the 'male' come out also. Women +have stood with the negro, thus far, on equal ground as +ostracized classes, outside the political paradise; and +now, when the door is open, it is but fair that we both +should enter and enjoy all the fruits of citizenship. +Heretofore ranked with idiots, lunatics, and criminals +in the Constitution, the negro has been the only respectable +compeer we had; so pray do not separate us +now for another twenty years, ere the constitutional +door will again be opened."</p> +<p>We were persistently urged to give all our efforts to +get the word "white" out, and thus secure the enfranchisement +of the colored man, as that, they said, +would prepare the way for us to follow. Several editors +threatened that, unless we did so, their papers should +henceforth do their best to defeat every measure we +proposed. But we were deaf alike to persuasions and +threats, thinking it wiser to labor for women, constituting, +as they did, half the people of the State, rather +than for a small number of colored men; who, viewing +<a name="Page_256"></a>all things from the same standpoint as white +men, would +be an added power against us.</p> +<p>The question settled in Kansas, we returned, with +George Francis Train, to New York. He offered to +pay all the expenses of the journey and meetings in all +the chief cities on the way, and see that we were fully +and well reported in their respective journals. After +prolonged consultation Miss Anthony and I thought +best to accept the offer and we did so. Most of our +friends thought it a grave blunder, but the result proved +otherwise. Mr. Train was then in his prime—a large, +fine-looking man, a gentleman in dress and manner, +neither smoking, chewing, drinking, nor gormandizing. +He was an effective speaker and actor, as one of his +speeches, which he illustrated, imitating the poor wife +at the washtub and the drunken husband reeling in, +fully showed. He gave his audience charcoal sketches +of everyday life rather than argument. He always +pleased popular audiences, and even the most fastidious +were amused with his caricatures. As the newspapers +gave several columns to our meetings at every +point through all the States, the agitation was widespread +and of great value. To be sure our friends, on +all sides, fell off, and those especially who wished us to +be silent on the question of woman's rights, declared +"the cause too sacred to be advocated by such a charlatan +as George Francis Train." We thought otherwise, +as the accession of Mr. Train increased the agitation +twofold. If these fastidious ladies and gentlemen had +come out to Kansas and occupied the ground and provided +"the sinews of war," there would have been no +field for Mr. Train's labors, and we should have accepted +their services. But, as the ground was unoccupied, he +<a name="Page_257"></a>had, at least, the right of a reform "squatter" +to cultivate +the cardinal virtues and reap a moral harvest +wherever he could.</p> +<p>Reaching New York, Mr. Train made it possible for +us to establish a newspaper, which gave another impetus +to our movement. The <i>Revolution</i>, published by +Susan B. Anthony and edited by Parker Pillsbury and +myself, lived two years and a half and was then consolidated +with the New York <i>Christian Enquirer</i>, edited +by the Rev. Henry Bellows, D.D. I regard the brief +period in which I edited the <i>Revolution</i> as one of the +happiest of my life, and I may add the most useful. In +looking over the editorials I find but one that I sincerely +regret, and that was a retort on Mr. Garrison, written +under great provocation, but not by me, which circumstances, +at the time, forbade me to disown. Considering +the pressure brought to bear on Miss Anthony +and myself, I feel now that our patience and forbearance +with our enemies in their malignant attacks on our +good, name, which we never answered, were indeed +marvelous.</p> +<p>We said at all times and on all other subjects just +what we thought, and advertised nothing that we did +not believe in. No advertisements of quack remedies +appeared in our columns. One of our clerks once published +a bread powder advertisement, which I did not +see until the paper appeared; so, in the next number, +I said, editorially, what I thought of it. I was alone in +the office, one day, when a man blustered in. "Who," +said he, "runs this concern?" "You will find the +names of the editors and publishers," I replied, "on +the editorial page." "Are you one of them?" "I am," +I replied. "Well, do you know that I agreed to pay +<a name="Page_258"></a>twenty dollars to have that bread powder +advertised +for one month, and then you condemn it editorially?" +"I have nothing to do with the advertising; +Miss Anthony pays me to say what I think." +"Have you any more thoughts to publish on that bread +powder?" "Oh, yes," I replied, "I have not exhausted +the subject yet." "Then," said he, "I will +have the advertisement taken out. What is there to +pay for the one insertion?" "Oh, nothing," I replied, +"as the editorial probably did you more injury than the +advertisement did you good." On leaving, with prophetic +vision, he said, "I prophesy a short life for this +paper; the business world is based on quackery, and you +cannot live without it." With melancholy certainty, +I replied, "I fear you are right."</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XVII"></a> +<h2><a name="Page_259"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> +<h2>LYCEUMS AND LECTURERS.</h2> +<br> +<p>The Lyceum Bureau was, at one time, a great +feature in American life. The three leading bureaus +were in Boston, New York, and Chicago. The managers, +map in hand, would lay out trips, more or less +extensive according to the capacity or will of the +speakers, and then, with a dozen or more victims in +hand, make arrangements with the committees in various +towns and cities to set them all in motion. As the +managers of the bureaus had ten per cent. of what the +speakers made, it was to their interest to keep the time +well filled. Hence the engagements were made without +the slightest reference to the comfort of the travelers. +With our immense distances, it was often necessary +to travel night and day, sometimes changing cars +at midnight, and perhaps arriving at the destination +half an hour or less before going on the platform, and +starting again on the journey immediately upon leaving +it. The route was always carefully written out, +giving the time the trains started from and arrived at +various points; but as cross trains often failed to connect, +one traveled, guidebook in hand, in a constant +fever of anxiety. As, in the early days, the fees were +from one to two hundred dollars a night, the speakers +themselves were desirous of accomplishing as much as +possible.</p> +<p><a name="Page_260"></a>In 1869 I gave my name, for the first time, +to the +New York Bureau, and on November 14 began the +long, weary pilgrimages, from Maine to Texas, that +lasted twelve years; speaking steadily for eight +months—from October to June—every season. That +was the heyday of the lecturing period, when a long +list of bright men and women were constantly on the +wing. Anna Dickinson, Olive Logan, Kate Field,—later, +Mrs. Livermore and Mrs. Howe, Alcott, Phillips, +Douglass, Tilton, Curtis, Beecher, and, several years +later, General Kilpatrick, with Henry Vincent, Bradlaugh, +and Matthew Arnold from England; these and +many others were stars of the lecture platform.</p> +<p>Some of us occasionally managed to spend Sunday +together, at a good hotel in some city, to rest and feast +and talk over our joys and sorrows, the long journeys, +the hard fare in the country hotels, the rainy nights +when committees felt blue and tried to cut down our +fees; the being compelled by inconsiderate people to +talk on the train; the overheated, badly ventilated cars; +the halls, sometimes too warm, sometimes too cold; +babies crying in our audiences; the rain pattering on +the roof overhead or leaking on the platform—these +were common experiences. In the West, women with +babies uniformly occupied the front seats so that the +little ones, not understanding what you said, might be +amused with your gestures and changing facial expression. +All these things, so trying, at the time, to concentrated +and enthusiastic speaking, afterward served +as subjects of amusing conversation. We unanimously +complained of the tea and coffee. Mrs. Livermore had +the wisdom to carry a spirit lamp with her own tea and +coffee, and thus supplied herself with the needed stimu<a + name="Page_261"></a>lants +for her oratorical efforts. The hardships of these +lyceum trips can never be appreciated except by those +who have endured them. With accidents to cars and +bridges, with floods and snow blockades, the pitfalls in +one of these campaigns were without number.</p> +<div style="text-align: center;"><a name="img008"></a><img + style="width: 400px; height: 287px;" alt="ELIZABETH SMITH MILLER." + title="ELIZABETH SMITH MILLER." src="image/008.jpg"><br> +<br> +<br> +</div> +<p style="text-align: center;"><a name="img009"></a><img + title="The Stanton" style="width: 400px; height: 522px;" + alt="The Stanton" src="image/009.jpg"></p> +<p>On one occasion, when engaged to speak at Maquoketa, +Iowa, I arrived at Lyons about noon, to find the +road was blocked with snow, and no chance of the cars +running for days. "Well," said I to the landlord, "I +must be at Maquoketa at eight o'clock to-night; have +you a sleigh, a span of fleet horses, and a skillful driver? +If so, I will go across the country." "Oh, yes, +madam!" he replied, "I have all you ask; but you could +not stand a six-hours' drive in this piercing wind." +Having lived in a region of snow, with the thermometer +down to twenty degrees below zero, I had no fears of +winds and drifts, so I said, "Get the sleigh ready and I +will try it." Accordingly I telegraphed the committee +that I would be there, and started. I was well bundled +up in a fur cloak and hood, a hot oak plank at my feet, +and a thick veil over my head and face. As the landlord +gave the finishing touch, by throwing a large buffalo +robe over all and tying the two tails together at +the back of my head and thus effectually preventing me +putting my hand to my nose, he said, "There, if you +can only sit perfectly still, you will come out all right +at Maquoketa; that is, if you get there, which I very +much doubt." It was a long, hard drive against the +wind and through drifts, but I scarcely moved a finger, +and, as the clock struck eight, we drove into the town. +The hall was warm, and the church bell having announced +my arrival, a large audience was assembled. +As I learned that all the roads in Northern Iowa were +<a name="Page_262"></a>blocked, I made the entire circuit, from point +to point, +in a sleigh, traveling forty and fifty miles a day.</p> +<p>At the Sherman House, in Chicago, three weeks +later, I met Mr. Bradlaugh and General Kilpatrick, who +were advertised on the same route ahead of me. +"Well," said I, "where have you gentlemen been?" +"Waiting here for the roads to be opened. We have +lost three weeks' engagements," they replied. As the +General was lecturing on his experiences in Sherman's +march to the sea, I chaffed him on not being able, in +an emergency, to march across the State of Iowa. +They were much astonished and somewhat ashamed, +when I told them of my long, solitary drives over the +prairies from day to day. It was the testimony of all +the bureaus that the women could endure more fatigue +and were more conscientious than the men in filling +their appointments.</p> +<p>The pleasant feature of these trips was the great educational +work accomplished for the people through +their listening to lectures on all the vital questions of +the hour. Wherever any of us chanced to be on Sunday, +we preached in some church; and wherever I had a +spare afternoon, I talked to women alone, on marriage, +maternity, and the laws of life and health. We made +many most charming acquaintances, too, scattered all +over our Western World, and saw how comfortable and +happy sensible people could be, living in most straitened +circumstances, with none of the luxuries of life. If +most housekeepers could get rid of one-half their +clothes and furniture and put their bric-a-brac in the +town museum, life would be simplified and they would +begin to know what leisure means. When I see so +many of our American women struggling to be artists, +<a name="Page_263"></a>who cannot make a good loaf of bread nor a +palatable +cup of coffee, I think of what Theodore Parker said +when art was a craze in Boston. "The fine arts do +not interest me so much as the coarse arts which feed, +clothe, house, and comfort a people. I would rather +be a great man like Franklin than a Michael Angelo—nay, +if I had a son, I should rather see him a mechanic, +like the late George Stephenson, in England, than a +great painter like Rubens, who only copied beauty."</p> +<p>One day I found at the office of the <i>Revolution</i> an +invitation to meet Mrs. Moulton in the Academy of +Music, where she was to try her voice for the coming +concert for the benefit of the Woman's Medical College. +And what a voice for power, pathos, pliability! I never +heard the like. Seated beside her mother, Mrs. W.H. +Greenough, I enjoyed alike the mother's anxious pride +and the daughter's triumph. I felt, as I listened, the +truth of what Vieuxtemps said the first time he heard +her, "That is the traditional voice for which the ages +have waited and longed." When, on one occasion, +Mrs. Moulton sang a song of Mozart's to Auber's accompaniment, +someone present asked, "What could be +added to make this more complete?" Auber looked up +to heaven, and, with a sweet smile, said, "Nothing but +that Mozart should have been here to listen." Looking +and listening, "Here," thought I, "is another jewel in +the crown of womanhood, to radiate and glorify the +lives of all." I have such an intense pride of sex that +the triumphs of woman in art, literature, oratory, +science, or song rouse my enthusiasm as nothing +else can.</p> +<p>Hungering, that day, for gifted women, I called on +Alice and Phebe Cary and Mary Clemmer Ames, and +<a name="Page_264"></a>together we gave the proud white male such a +serving +up as did our souls good and could not hurt him, intrenched, +as he is, behind creeds, codes, customs, and +constitutions, with vizor and breastplate of self-complacency +and conceit. In criticising Jessie Boucherett's +essay on "Superfluous Women," in which she +advises men in England to emigrate in order to leave +room and occupation for women, the <i>Tribune</i> said: +"The idea of a home without a man in it!" In visiting +the Carys one always felt that there was a home—a +very charming one, too—without a man in it.</p> +<p>Once when Harriet Beecher Stowe was at Dr. +Taylor's, I had the opportunity to make her acquaintance. +In her sanctum, surrounded by books and +papers, she was just finishing her second paper on +the Byron family, and her sister Catherine was +preparing papers on her educational work, preparatory +to a coming meeting of the ladies of the +school board. The women of the Beecher family, +though most of them wives and mothers, all had +a definite life-work outside the family circle, and other +objects of intense interest beside husbands, babies, cook +stoves, and social conversations. Catherine said she was +opposed to woman suffrage, and if she thought there +was the least danger of our getting it, she would write +and talk against it vehemently. But, as the nation was +safe against such a calamity, she was willing to let the +talk go on, because the agitation helped her work. "It +is rather paradoxical," I said to her, "that the pressing +of a false principle can help a true one; but when you +get the women all thoroughly educated, they will step +off to the polls and vote in spite of you."</p> +<p>One night on the train from New York to Williams<a name="Page_265"></a>port, +Pennsylvania, I found abundant time to think over +the personal peculiarities of the many noble women who +adorn this nineteenth century, and, as I recalled them, +one by one, in America, England, France, and Germany, +and all that they are doing and saying, I wandered that +any man could be so blind as not to see that woman +has already taken her place as the peer of man. While +the lords of creation have been debating her sphere and +drawing their chalk marks here and there, woman has +quietly stepped outside the barren fields where she was +compelled to graze for centuries, and is now in green +pastures and beside still waters, a power in the world of +thought.</p> +<p>These pleasant cogitations were cut short by my +learning that I had taken the wrong train, and must +change at Harrisburg at two o'clock in the morning. +How soon the reflection that I must leave my comfortable +berth at such an unchristian hour changed the whole +hue of glorious womanhood and every other earthly +blessing! However, I lived through the trial and arrived +at Williamsport as the day dawned. I had a good +audience at the opera house that evening, and was +introduced to many agreeable people, who declared +themselves converted to woman suffrage by my ministrations. +Among the many new jewels in my crown, I +added, that night, Judge Bently.</p> +<p>In November, 1869, I passed one night in Philadelphia, +with Miss Anthony, at Anna Dickinson's home—a +neat, three-story brick house in Locust Street. This +haven of rest, where the world-famous little woman +came, ever and anon, to recruit her overtaxed energies, +was very tastefully furnished, adorned with engravings, +books, and statuary. Her mother, sister, and brother +<a name="Page_266"></a>made up the household—a pleasing, cultivated +trio. +The brother was a handsome youth of good judgment, +and given to sage remarks; the sister, witty, intuitive, +and incisive in speech; the mother, dressed in rich +Quaker costume, and though nearly seventy, still possessed +of great personal beauty. She was intelligent, +dignified, refined, and, in manner and appearance, reminded +one of Angelina Grimké as she looked in her +younger days. Everything about the house and its +appointments indicated that it was the abode of genius +and cultivation, and, although Anna was absent, the +hospitalities were gracefully dispensed by her family. +Napoleon and Shakespeare seemed to be Anna's patron +saints, looking down, on all sides, from the wall. The +mother amused us with the sore trials her little orator +had inflicted on the members of the household by her +vagaries in the world of fame.</p> +<p>On the way to Kennett Square, a young gentleman +pointed out to us the home of Benjamin West, +who distinguished himself, to the disgust of broadbrims +generally, as a landscape painter. In commencing +his career, it is said he made use of the +tail of a cat in lieu of a brush. Of course Benjamin's +first attempts were on the sly, and he could +not ask paterfamilias for money to buy a brush +without encountering the good man's scorn. Whether, +in the hour of his need and fresh enthusiasm, +poor puss was led to the sacrificial altar, or whether +he found her reposing by the roadside, having paid the +debt of Nature, our informant could not say; enough +that, in time, he owned a brush and immortalized himself +by his skill in its use. Such erratic ones as Whittier, +West, and Anna Dickinson go to prove that even +<a name="Page_267"></a>the prim, proper, perfect Quakers are subject to +like infirmities +with the rest of the human family.</p> +<p>I had long heard of the "Progressive Friends" in +the region round Longwood; had read the many bulls +they issued from their "yearly meetings" on every +question, on war, capital punishment, temperance, +slavery, woman's rights; had learned that they were +turning the cold shoulder on the dress, habits, and +opinions of their Fathers; listening to the ministrations +of such worldlings as William Lloyd Garrison, Theodore +Tilton, and Oliver Johnson, in a new meeting house, all +painted and varnished, with cushions, easy seats, carpets, +stoves, a musical instrument—shade of George +Fox, forgive—and three brackets with vases on the +"high seat," and, more than all that, men and women +were indiscriminately seated throughout the house.</p> +<p>All this Miss Anthony and I beheld with our own +eyes, and, in company with Sarah Pugh and Chandler +Darlington, did sit together in the high seat and talk +in the congregation of the people. There, too, we met +Hannah Darlington and Dinah Mendenhall,—names +long known in every good work,—and, for the space +of one day, did enjoy the blissful serenity of that earthly +paradise. The women of Kennett Square were celebrated +not only for their model housekeeping but also +for their rare cultivation on all subjects of general +interest.</p> +<p>In November I again started on one of my Western +trips, but, alas! on the very day the trains were changed, +and so I could not make connections to meet my engagements +at Saginaw and Marshall, and just saved myself +at Toledo by going directly from the cars before the +audience, with the dust of twenty-four hours' travel on +<a name="Page_268"></a>my garments. Not being able to reach Saginaw, I +went straight to Ann Arbor, and spent three days +most pleasantly in visiting old friends, making new +ones, and surveying the town, with its grand University. +I was invited to Thanksgiving dinner at +the home of Mr. Seaman, a highly cultivated Democratic +editor, author of "Progress of Nations." +A choice number of guests gathered round his +hospitable board on that occasion, over which his +wife presided with dignity and grace. Woman suffrage +was the target for the combined wit and satire of +the company, and, after four hours of uninterrupted +sharpshooting, pyrotechnics, and laughter, we dispersed +to our several abodes, fairly exhausted with the excess +of enjoyment.</p> +<p>One gentleman had the moral hardihood to assert +that men had more endurance than women, whereupon +a lady remarked that she would like to see the thirteen +hundred young men in the University laced up in steel-ribbed +corsets, with hoops, heavy skirts, trains, high +heels, panniers, chignons, and dozens of hairpins sticking +in their scalps, cooped up in the house year after year, +with no exhilarating exercise, no hopes, aims, nor ambitions +in life, and know if they could stand it as well as +the girls. "Nothing," said she, "but the fact that +women, like cats, have nine lives, enables them to survive +the present <i>régime</i> to which custom dooms the +sex."</p> +<p>While in Ann Arbor I gave my lecture on "Our +Girls" in the new Methodist church—a large building, +well lighted, and filled with a brilliant audience. The +students, in large numbers, were there, and strengthened +the threads of my discourse with frequent and +<a name="Page_269"></a>generous applause; especially when I urged on +the +Regents of the University the duty of opening its +doors to the daughters of the State. There were several +splendid girls in Michigan, at that time, preparing +themselves for admission to the law department. As +Judge Cooley, one of the professors, was a very liberal +man, as well as a sound lawyer, and strongly in favor +of opening the college to girls, I had no doubt the +women of Michigan would soon distinguish themselves +at the bar. Some said the chief difficulty in the way of +the girls of that day being admitted to the University +was the want of room. That could have been easily +obviated by telling the young men from abroad to betake +themselves to the colleges in their respective +States, that Michigan might educate her daughters. +As the women owned a good share of the property of +the State, and had been heavily taxed to build and endow +that institution, it was but fair that they should +share in its advantages.</p> +<p>The Michigan University, with its extensive grounds, +commodious buildings, medical and law schools, professors' +residences, and the finest laboratory in the +country, was an institution of which the State was justly +proud, and, as the tuition was free, it was worth the +trouble of a long, hard siege by the girls of Michigan to +gain admittance there. I advised them to organize +their forces at once, get their minute guns, battering +rams, monitors, projectiles, bombshells, cannon, torpedoes, +and crackers ready, and keep up a brisk cannonading +until the grave and reverend seigniors opened +the door, and shouted, "Hold, enough!"</p> +<p>The ladies of Ann Arbor had a fine library of their +own, where their clubs met once a week. They had +<a name="Page_270"></a>just formed a suffrage association. My visit +ended with +a pleasant reception, at which I was introduced to the +chaplain, several professors, and many ladies and gentlemen +ready to accept the situation. Judge Cooley +gave me a glowing account of the laws of Michigan—how +easy it was for wives to get possession of all the +property, and then sunder the marriage tie and leave +the poor husband to the charity of the cold world, with +their helpless children about him. I heard of a rich +lady, there, who made a will, giving her husband a handsome +annuity as long as he remained her widower. It +was evident that the poor "white male," sooner or +later, was doomed to try for himself the virtue of the +laws he had made for women. I hope, for the sake of +the race, he will not bear oppression with the stupid +fortitude we have for six thousand years.</p> +<p>At Flint I was entertained by Mr. and Mrs. Jenny. +Mr. Jenny was a Democratic editor who believed in +progress, and in making smooth paths for women in +this great wilderness of life. His wife was a remarkable +woman. She inaugurated the Ladies' Libraries in +Michigan. In Flint they had a fine brick building and +nearly two thousand volumes of choice books, owned by +the association, and money always in the treasury. +Here, too, I had a fine audience and gave my lecture +entitled "Open the Door."</p> +<p>At Coldwater, in spite of its name, I found a warm, +appreciative audience. The president of the lyceum +was a sensible young man who, after graduating at Ann +Arbor, decided, instead of starving at the law, to work +with his hands and brains at the same time. When all +men go to their legitimate business of creating wealth, +developing the resources of the country, and leave its +<a name="Page_271"></a>mere exchange to the weaker sex, we shall not +have so +many superfluous women in the world with nothing to +do. It is evident the time has come to hunt man into +his appropriate sphere. Coming from Chicago, I met +Governor Fairchild and Senator Williams of Wisconsin. +It was delightful to find them thoroughly +grounded in the faith of woman suffrage. They had +been devout readers of the <i>Revolution</i> ever since Miss +Anthony induced them to subscribe, the winter before, +at Madison. Of course a new glow of intelligence irradiated +their fine faces (for they were remarkably handsome +men) and there was a new point to all their words. +Senator Williams, like myself, was on a lecturing tour. +"Man" was his theme, for which I was devoutly thankful; +for, if there are any of God's creatures that need +lecturing, it is this one that is forever advising us. I +thought of all men, from Father Gregory down to +Horace Bushnell, who had wearied their brains to +describe woman's sphere, and how signally they had +failed.</p> +<p>Throughout my lyceum journeys I was of great use +to the traveling public, in keeping the ventilators in +the cars open, and the dampers in fiery stoves shut up, +especially in sleeping cars at night. How many times a +day I thought what the sainted Horace Mann tried to +impress on his stupid countrymen, that, inasmuch as the +air is forty miles deep around the globe, it is a useless +piece of economy to breathe any number of cubic feet +over more than seven times! The babies, too, need to +be thankful that I was in a position to witness their +wrongs. Many, through my intercessions, received +their first drink of water, and were emancipated from +woolen hoods, veils, tight strings under their chins, and +<a name="Page_272"></a>endless swaddling bands. It is a startling +assertion, but +true, that I have met few women who know how to +take care of a baby. And this fact led me, on one trip, +to lecture to my fair countrywomen on "Marriage and +Maternity," hoping to aid in the inauguration of a new +era of happy, healthy babies.</p> +<p>After twenty-four hours in the express I found myself +in a pleasant room in the International Hotel at La +Crosse, looking out on the Great Mother of Waters, on +whose cold bosom the ice and the steamers were +struggling for mastery. Beyond stretched the snow-clad +bluffs, sternly looking down on the Mississippi, +as if to say, "'Thus far shalt thou come and no +farther'—though sluggish, you are aggressive, ever +pushing where you should not; but all attempts +in this direction are alike vain; since creation's +dawn, we have defied you, and here we stand, to-day, +calm, majestic, immovable. Coquette as you will +in other latitudes, with flowery banks and youthful +piers in the busy marts of trade, and undermine them, +one and all, with your deceitful wooings, but bow in +reverence as you gaze on us. We have no eyes for your +beauty; no ears for your endless song; our heads are in +the clouds, our hearts commune with gods; you have +no part in the eternal problems of the ages that fill our +thoughts, yours the humble duty to wash our feet, and +then pass on, remembering to keep in your appropriate +sphere, within the barks that wise geographers have +seen fit to mark."</p> +<p>As I listened to these complacent hills and watched +the poor Mississippi weeping as she swept along, to lose +her sorrows in ocean's depths, I thought how like the +attitude of man to woman. Let these proud hills re<a name="Page_273"></a>member +that they, too, slumbered for centuries in deep +valleys down, down, when, perchance, the sparkling +Mississippi rolled above their heads, and but for some +generous outburst, some upheaval of old Mother +Earth, wishing that her rock-ribbed sons, as well as +graceful daughters, might enjoy the light, the sunshine +and the shower—but for this soul of love in matter as +well as mind—these bluffs and the sons of Adam, too, +might not boast the altitude they glory in to-day. +Those who have ears to hear discern low, rumbling +noises that foretell convulsions in our social world that +may, perchance, in the next upheaval, bring woman to +the surface; up, up, from gloomy ocean depths, dark +caverns, and damper valleys. The struggling daughters +of earth are soon to walk in the sunlight of a higher +civilization.</p> +<p>Escorted by Mr. Woodward, a member of the bar, I +devoted a day to the lions of La Crosse. First we explored +the courthouse, a large, new brick building, from +whose dome we had a grand view of the surrounding +country. The courtroom where justice is administered +was large, clean, airy—the bench carpeted and adorned +with a large, green, stuffed chair, in which I sat down, +and, in imagination, summoned up advocates, jurors, +prisoners, and people, and wondered how I should feel +pronouncing sentence of death on a fellow-being, or, +like Portia, wisely checkmating the Shylocks of our +times. Here I met Judge Hugh Cameron, formerly of +Johnstown. He invited us into his sanctum, where we +had a pleasant chat about our native hills, Scotch affiliations, +the bench and bar of New York, and the Wisconsin +laws for women. The Judge, having maintained a +happy bachelor state, looked placidly on the aggressive +<a name="Page_274"></a>movements of the sex, as his domestic felicity +would +be no way affected, whether woman was voted up or +down.</p> +<p>We next surveyed the Pomeroy building, which contained +a large, tastefully finished hall and printing establishment, +where the La Crosse <i>Democrat</i> was formerly +published. As I saw the perfection, order, and good +taste, in all arrangements throughout, and listened to +Mr. Huron's description of the life and leading characteristics +of its chief, it seemed impossible to reconcile +the tone of the <i>Democrat</i> with the moral status of its +editor. I never saw a more complete business establishment, +and the editorial sanctum looked as if it might +be the abiding place of the Muses. Mirrors, pictures, +statuary, books, music, rare curiosities, and fine specimens +of birds and minerals were everywhere. Over the +editor's table was a beautiful painting of his youthful +daughter, whose flaxen hair, blue eyes, and angelic face +should have inspired a father to nobler, purer, utterances +than he was wont, at that time, to give to the +world.</p> +<p>But Pomeroy's good deeds will live long after his +profane words are forgotten. Throughout the establishment +cards, set up in conspicuous places, said, +"Smoking here is positively forbidden." Drinking, too, +was forbidden to all his employés. The moment a man +was discovered using intoxicating drinks, he was dismissed. +In the upper story of the building was a large, +pleasant room, handsomely carpeted and furnished, +where the employés, in their leisure hours, could talk, +write, read, or amuse themselves in any rational way.</p> +<p>Mr. Pomeroy was humane and generous with his +employés, honorable in his business relations, and +<a name="Page_275"></a>boundless in his charities to the poor. His +charity, +business honor, and public spirit were highly spoken of +by those who knew him best. That a journal does not +always reflect the editor is as much the fault of society +as of the man. So long as the public will pay for gross +personalities, obscenity, and slang, decent journals will +be outbidden in the market. The fact that the La +Crosse <i>Democrat</i> found a ready sale in all parts of the +country showed that Mr. Pomeroy fairly reflected the +popular taste. While multitudes turned up the whites +of their eyes and denounced him in public, they bought +his paper and read it in private.</p> +<p>I left La Crosse in a steamer, just as the rising sun +lighted the hilltops and gilded the Mississippi. It was +a lovely morning, and, in company with a young girl of +sixteen, who had traveled alone from some remote part +of Canada, bound for a northern village in Wisconsin, I +promenaded the deck most of the way to Winona, a +pleased listener to the incidents of my young companion's +experiences. She said that, when crossing +Lake Huron, she was the only woman on board, but the +men were so kind and civil that she soon forgot she was +alone. I found many girls, traveling long distances, +who had never been five miles from home before, with a +self-reliance that was remarkable. They all spoke in the +most flattering manner of the civility of our American +men in looking after their baggage and advising them +as to the best routes.</p> +<p>As you approach St. Paul, at Fort Snelling, where +the Mississippi and Minnesota join forces, the country +grows bold and beautiful. The town itself, then boasting +about thirty thousand inhabitants, is finely situated, +with substantial stone residences. It was in one of +<a name="Page_276"></a>these charming homes I found a harbor of rest +during +my stay in the city. Mrs. Stuart, whose hospitalities I +enjoyed, was a woman of rare common sense and sound +health. Her husband, Dr. Jacob H. Stuart, was one +of the very first surgeons to volunteer in the late war. +In the panic at Bull Run, instead of running, as everybody +else did, he stayed with the wounded, and was +taken prisoner while taking a bullet from the head of a +rebel. When exchanged, Beauregard gave him his +sword for his devotion to the dying and wounded.</p> +<p>I had the pleasure of seeing several of the leading +gentlemen and ladies of St. Paul at the Orphans' Fair, +where we all adjourned, after my lecture, to discuss +woman's rights, over a bounteous supper. Here I met +William L. Banning, the originator of the Lake Superior +and Mississippi Railroad. He besieged Congress +and capitalists for a dozen years to build this road, +but was laughed at and put off with sneers and contempt, +until, at last, Jay Cooke became so weary of his +continual coming that he said: "I will build the road to +get rid of you."</p> +<p>Whittier seems to have had a prophetic vision of the +peopling of this region. When speaking of the +Yankee, he says:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"He's whittling by St. Mary's Falls,</p> +<p>Upon his loaded wain;</p> +<p>He's measuring o'er the Pictured Rocks,</p> +<p>With eager eyes of gain.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"I hear the mattock in the mine,</p> +<p>The ax-stroke in the dell,</p> +<p>The clamor from the Indian lodge,</p> +<p>The Jesuits' chapel bell!</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"><a name="Page_277"></a> +<p>"I hear the tread of pioneers</p> +<p>Of nations yet to be;</p> +<p>The first low wash of waves, where soon</p> +<p>Shall roll a human sea."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>The opening of these new outlets and mines of +wealth was wholly due to the forecast and perseverance +of Mr. Banning. The first engine that went +over a part of the road had been christened at St. +Paul, with becoming ceremonies; the officiating priestess +being a beautiful maiden. A cask of water from the +Pacific was sent by Mr. Banning's brother from California, +and a small keg was brought from Lake Superior +for the occasion. A glass was placed in the +hands of Miss Ella B. Banning, daughter of the president, +who then christened the engine, saying: "With +the waters of the Pacific Ocean in my right hand, and +the waters of Lake Superior in my left, invoking the +Genius of Progress to bring together, with iron band, +two great commercial systems of the globe, I dedicate +this engine to the use of the Lake Superior and Mississippi +Railroad, and name it William L. Banning."</p> +<p>From St. Paul to Dubuque, as the boats had ceased +running, a circuitous route and a night of discomfort +were inevitable. Leaving the main road to Chicago at +Clinton Junction, I had the pleasure of waiting at a small +country inn until midnight for a freight train. This +was indeed dreary, but, having Mrs. Child's sketches +of Mmes. De Staël and Roland at hand, I read of +Napoleon's persecutions of the one and Robespierre's +of the other, until, by comparison, my condition was +tolerable, and the little meagerly furnished room, with +its dull fire and dim lamp, seemed a paradise compared +with years of exile from one's native land or the prison +<a name="Page_278"></a>cell and guillotine. How small our ordinary, +petty +trials seem in contrast with the mountains of sorrow +that have been piled up on the great souls of the past! +Absorbed in communion with them twelve o'clock soon +came, and with it the train.</p> +<p>A burly son of Adam escorted me to the passenger +car filled with German immigrants, with tin cups, babies, +bags, and bundles innumerable. The ventilators were +all closed, the stoves hot, and the air was like that of the +Black Hole of Calcutta. So, after depositing my cloak +and bag in an empty seat, I quietly propped both doors +open with a stick of wood, shut up the stoves, and +opened all the ventilators with the poker. But the +celestial breeze, so grateful to me, had the most unhappy +effect on the slumbering exiles. Paterfamilias +swore outright; the companion of his earthly pilgrimage +said, "We must be going north," and, as the heavy +veil of carbonic acid gas was lifted from infant faces, +and the pure oxygen filled their lungs and roused them +to new life, they set up one simultaneous shout of joy +and gratitude, which their parents mistook for agony. +Altogether there was a general stir. As I had quietly +slipped into my seat and laid my head down to sleep, I +remained unobserved—the innocent cause of the general +purification and vexation.</p> +<p>We reached Freeport at three o'clock in the morning. +As the depot for Dubuque was nearly half a mile on the +other side of the town, I said to a solitary old man who +stood shivering there to receive us, "How can I get to +the other station?" "Walk, madam." "But I do +not know the way." "There is no one to go with you." +"How is my trunk going?" said I. "I have a donkey +and cart to take that." "Then," said I, "you, the +<a name="Page_279"></a>donkey, the trunk, and I will go together." So I +stepped into the cart, sat down on the trunk, and the +old man laughed heartily as we jogged along through +the mud of that solitary town in the pale morning +starlight. Just as the day was dawning, Dubuque, with +its rough hills and bold scenery, loomed up. Soon, +under the roof of Myron Beach, one of the distinguished +lawyers of the West, with a good breakfast and sound +nap, my night's sorrows were forgotten.</p> +<p>I was sorry to find that Mrs. Beach, though a native +of New York, and born on the very spot where the first +woman's rights convention was held in this country, +was not sound on the question of woman suffrage. She +seemed to have an idea that voting and housekeeping +could not be compounded; but I suggested that, if the +nation could only enjoy a little of the admirable system +with which she and other women administered their +domestic affairs, Uncle Sam's interests would be better +secured. This is just what the nation needs to-day, +and women must wake up to the consideration that +they, too, have duties as well as rights in the State. A +splendid audience greeted me in the Opera House, and +I gave "Our Girls," bringing many male sinners to repentance, +and stirring up some lethargic <i>femmes +coverts</i> to a state of rebellion against the existing order +of things.</p> +<p>From Dubuque I went to Dixon, a large town, where +I met a number of pleasant people, but I have one +cause of complaint against the telegraph operator, +whose negligence to send a dispatch to Mt. Vernon, +written and paid for, came near causing me a solitary +night on the prairie, unsheltered and unknown. Hearing +that the express train went out Sunday afternoon, +<a name="Page_280"></a>I decided to go, so as to have all day at Mt. +Vernon +before speaking; but on getting my trunk checked, the +baggageman said the train did not stop there. "Well," +said I, "check the trunk to the nearest point at which +it does stop," resolving that I would persuade the conductor +to stop one minute, anyway. Accordingly, +when the conductor came round, I presented my case +as persuasively and eloquently as possible, telling him +that I had telegraphed friends to meet me, etc., etc. +He kindly consented to do so and had my trunk re-checked. +On arriving, as there was no light, no sound, +and the depot was half a mile from the town, the conductor +urged me to go to Cedar Rapids and come back +the next morning, as it was Sunday night and the depot +might not be opened, and I might be compelled to stay +there on the platform all night in the cold.</p> +<p>But, as I had telegraphed, I told him I thought someone +would be there, and I would take the risk. So +off went the train, leaving me solitary and alone. I +could see the lights in the distant town and the dark +outlines of two great mills near by, which suggested +dams and races. I heard, too, the distant barking of +dogs, and I thought there might be wolves, too; but no +human sound. The platform was high and I could see +no way down, and I should not have dared to go down +if I had. So I walked all round the house, knocked at +every door and window, called "John!" "James!" +"Patrick!" but no response. Dressed in all their best, +they had, no doubt, gone to visit Sally, and I knew they +would stay late. The night wind was cold. What +could I do? The prospect of spending the night there +filled me with dismay. At last I thought I would try +my vocal powers; so I hallooed as loud as I could, in +<a name="Page_281"></a>every note of the gamut, until I was hoarse. At +last +I heard a distant sound, a loud halloo, which I returned, +and so we kept it up until the voice grew near, and, +when I heard a man's heavy footsteps close at hand, I +was relieved. He proved to be the telegraph operator, +who had been a brave soldier in the late war. He said +that no message had come from Dixon. He escorted +me to the hotel, where some members of the Lyceum +Committee came in and had a hearty laugh at my adventure, +especially that, in my distress, I should have +called on James and John and Patrick, instead of Jane, +Ann, and Bridget. They seemed to argue that that +was an admission, on my part, of man's superiority, but +I suggested that, as my sex had not yet been exalted to +the dignity of presiding in depots and baggage rooms, +there would have been no propriety in calling Jane and +Ann.</p> +<p>Mt. Vernon was distinguished for a very flourishing +Methodist college, open to boys and girls alike. The +president and his wife were liberal and progressive people. +I dined with them in their home near the +college, and met some young ladies from Massachusetts, +who were teachers in the institution. All +who gathered round the social board on that occasion +were of one mind on the woman question. +Even the venerable mother of the president seemed +to light up with the discussion of the theme. I gave +"Our Girls" in the Methodist church, and took +the opportunity to compliment them for taking the +word "obey" out of their marriage ceremony. I +heard the most encouraging reports of the experiment +of educating the sexes together. It was +the rule in all the Methodist institutions in Iowa, +<a name="Page_282"></a>and I found that the young gentlemen fully +approved +of it.</p> +<p>At Mt. Vernon I also met Mr. Wright, former +Secretary of State, who gave me several interesting +facts in regard to the women of Iowa. The +State could boast one woman who was an able +lawyer, Mrs. Mansfield. Mrs. Berry and Mrs. Stebbins +were notaries public. Miss Addington was +superintendent of schools in Mitchell County. She +was nominated by a convention in opposition to a +Mr. Brown. When the vote was taken, lo! there was +a tie. Mr. Brown offered to yield through courtesy, +but she declined; so they drew lots and Miss Addington +was the victor. She once made an abstract of +titles of all the lands in the county where she +lived, and had received an appointment to office +from the Governor of the State, who requested the +paper to be made out "L." instead of Laura Addington. +He said it was enough for Iowa to appoint women +to such offices, without having it known the world over. +I was sorry to tell the Governor's secrets,—which I +did everywhere,—but the cause of womanhood made it +necessary.</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a> +<h2><a name="Page_283"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> +<h2>WESTWARD HO!</h2> +<br> +<p>In the month of June, 1871, Miss Anthony and I +went to California, holding suffrage meetings in many +of the chief cities from New York to San Francisco, +where we arrived about the middle of July, in time to +experience the dry, dusty season.</p> +<p>We tarried, on the way, one week in Salt Lake City. +It was at the time of the Godby secession, when several +hundred Mormons abjured that portion of the faith of +their fathers which authorized polygamy. A decision +had just been rendered by the United States Supreme +Court declaring the first wife and her children the only +legal heirs. Whether this decision hastened the secession +I do not know; however, it gave us the advantage +of hearing all the arguments for and against the system. +Those who were opposed to it said it made slaves +of men. To support four wives and twenty children +was a severe strain on any husband. The women who +believed in polygamy had much to say in its favor, especially +in regard to the sacredness of motherhood during +the period of pregnancy and lactation; a lesson of +respect for that period being religiously taught all +Mormons.</p> +<p>We were very thankful for the privilege granted +us of speaking to the women alone in the smaller +Tabernacle. Our meeting opened at two o'clock +and lasted until seven, giving us five hours of un<a name="Page_284"></a>interrupted +conversation. Judge McKeon had informed +me of the recent decisions and the legal aspects +of the questions, which he urged me to present to them +fully and frankly, as no one had had such an opportunity +before to speak to Mormon women alone. So I made +the most of my privilege. I gave a brief history of the +marriage institution in all times and countries, of +the matriarchate, when the mother was the head +of the family and owned the property and children; +of the patriarchate, when man reigned supreme +and woman was enslaved; of polyandry, polygamy, +monogamy, and prostitution. We had a full +and free discussion of every phase of the question, +and we all agreed that we were still far from having +reached the ideal position for woman in marriage, +however satisfied man might be with his various experiments. +Though the Mormon women, like all +others, stoutly defend their own religion, yet they are no +more satisfied than any other sect. All women are +dissatisfied with their position as inferiors, and their +dissatisfaction increases in exact ratio with their +intelligence and development.</p> +<p>After this convocation the doors of the Tabernacle +were closed to our ministrations, as we thought they +would be, but we had crowded an immense amount of +science, philosophy, history, and general reflections into +the five hours of such free talk as those women had +never heard before. As the seceders had just built a +new hall, we held meetings there every day, discussing +all the vital issues of the hour; the Mormon men and +women taking an active part.</p> +<p>We attended the Fourth of July celebration, and saw +the immense Tabernacle filled to its utmost capacity. +<a name="Page_285"></a>The various States of the Union were represented +by +young girls, gayly dressed, carrying beautiful flags and +banners. When that immense multitude joined in our +national songs, and the deep-toned organ filled the vast +dome the music was very impressive, and the spirit of +patriotism manifested throughout was deep and sincere.</p> +<p>As I stood among these simple people, so earnest in +making their experiment in religion and social life, and +remembered all the persecutions they had suffered and +all they had accomplished in that desolate, far-off region, +where they had, indeed, made "the wilderness +blossom like the rose," I appreciated, as never before, +the danger of intermeddling with the religious ideas of +any people. Their faith finds abundant authority in the +Bible, in the example of God's chosen people. When +learned ecclesiastics teach the people that they can +safely take that book as the guide of their lives, they +must expect them to follow the letter and the specific +teachings that lie on the surface. The ordinary mind +does not generalize nor see that the same principles of +conduct will not do for all periods and latitudes. When +women understand that governments and religions are +human inventions; that Bibles, prayerbooks, catechisms, +and encyclical letters are all emanations from +the brain of man, they will no longer be oppressed by +the injunctions that come to them with the divine +authority of "Thus saith the Lord."</p> +<p>That thoroughly democratic gathering in the Tabernacle +impressed me more than any other Fourth of July +celebration I ever attended. As most of the Mormon +families keep no servants, mothers must take their children +wherever they go—to churches, theatres, concerts, +and military reviews—everywhere and anywhere. +<a name="Page_286"></a>Hence the low, pensive wail of the individual +baby, +combining in large numbers, becomes a deep monotone, +like the waves of the sea, a sort of violoncello accompaniment +to all their holiday performances. It was +rather trying to me at first to have my glowing periods +punctuated with a rhythmic wail from all sides of the +hall; but as soon as I saw that it did not distract my +hearers, I simply raised my voice, and, with a little +added vehemence, fairly rivaled the babies. Commenting +on this trial, to one of the theatrical performers, he +replied: "It is bad enough for you, but alas! imagine me +in a tender death scene, when the most profound stillness +is indispensable, having my last gasp, my farewell +message to loved ones, accentuated with the joyful +crowings or impatient complainings of fifty babies." I +noticed in the Tabernacle that the miseries of the infantile +host were in a measure mitigated by constant +draughts of cold water, borne around in buckets by +four old men.</p> +<p>The question of the most profound interest to us +at that time, in the Mormon experiment, was the exercise +of the suffrage by women. Emeline B. Wells, +wife of the Mayor of the city, writing to a Washington +convention, in 1894, said of the many complications +growing out of various bills before Congress to rob +women of this right:</p> +<div class="blkquot"> +<p>"Women have voted in Utah fourteen years, but, because +of the little word 'male' that still stands upon +the statutes, no woman is eligible to any office of +emolument or trust. In three successive legislatures, +bills have been passed, providing that the word +'male' be erased; but, each time, the Governor of +the Territory, who has absolute veto power, has +<a name="Page_287"></a>refused his signature. Yet women attend primary +meetings in the various precincts and are chosen +as delegates. They are also members of county and +territorial central committees, and are thus gaining +practical political experience, and preparing themselves +for positions of trust.</p> +<p>"In 1882 a convention was held to frame a constitution +to be submitted to the people and presented to +the Congress of the United States. Women were delegates +to this convention, and took part in all its deliberations, +and were appointed to act on committees +with equal privileges. It is the first instance on record, +I think, where women have been members and taken +an active part in a constitutional convention.</p> +<p>"Much has been said and written, and justly, too, of +suffrage for women in Wyoming; but, in my humble +opinion, had Utah stood on the same ground as Wyoming, +and women been eligible to office, as they are in +that Territory, they would, ere this, have been elected +to the legislative Assembly of Utah.</p> +<p>"It is currently reported that Mormon women vote +as they are told by their husbands. I most emphatically +deny the assertion. All Mormon women vote +who are privileged to register. Every girl born here, +as soon as she is twenty-one years old, registers, and +considers it as much a duty as to say her prayers. Our +women vote with the same freedom that characterizes +any class of people in the most conscientious acts of +their lives."</p> +</div> +<p>These various questions were happily solved in 1895, +when Utah became a State. Its Constitution gives +women the right to vote on all questions, and makes +them eligible to any office.</p> +<p><a name="Page_288"></a>The journey over the Rocky Mountains was more +interesting and wonderful than I had imagined. A +heavy shower the morning we reached the alkali plains +made the trip through that region, where travelers suffer +so much, quite endurable. Although we reached +California in its hot, dry season, we found the atmosphere +in San Francisco delightful, fanned with the +gentle breezes of the Pacific, cooled with the waters of +its magnificent harbor. The Golden Gate does indeed +open to the eye of the traveler one of the most beautiful +harbors in the world.</p> +<p>Friends had engaged for us a suite of apartments +at the Grand Hotel, then just opened. Our rooms +were constantly decked with fresh flowers, which +our "suffrage children," as they called themselves, +brought us from day to day. So many brought +tokens of their good will—in fact, all our visitors +came with offerings of fruits and flowers—that not +only our apartments, but the public tables were +crowded with rare and beautiful specimens of all +varieties. We spoke every night, to crowded houses, +on all phases of the woman question, and had a succession +of visitors during the day. In fact, for one +week, we had a perfect ovation. As Senator Stanford +and his wife were at the same hotel, we had many pleasant +interviews with them.</p> +<p>While in San Francisco we had many delightful sails +in the harbor and drives to the seashore and for miles +along the beach. We spent several hours at the little +Ocean House, watching the gambols of the celebrated +seals. These, like the big trees, were named +after distinguished statesmen. One very black fellow +was named Charles Sumner, in honor of his love of the +<a name="Page_289"></a>black race; another, with a little squint in his +eye, was +called Ben Butler; a stout, rotund specimen that +seemed to take life philosophically, was named Senator +Davis of Illinois; a very belligerent one, who appeared +determined to crowd his confrères into the sea, was +called Secretary Stanton. Grant and Lincoln, on a +higher ledge of the rocks, were complacently observing +the gambols of the rest.</p> +<p>California was on the eve of an important election, +and John A. Bingham of Ohio and Senator Cole were +stumping the State for the Republican party. At several +points we had the use of their great tents for our +audiences, and of such of their able arguments as applied +to woman. As Mr. Bingham's great speech was on the +Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, +every principle he laid down literally enfranchised the +women of the nation. I met the Ohio statesman one +morning at breakfast, after hearing him the night before. +I told him his logic must compel him to advocate +woman suffrage. With a most cynical smile he +said "he was not the puppet of logic, but the slave of +practical politics."</p> +<p>We met most of our suffrage coadjutors in different +parts of California. I spent a few days with +Mrs. Elizabeth B. Schenck, one of the earliest +pioneers in the suffrage movement. She was a cultivated, +noble woman, and her little cottage was a +gem of beauty and comfort, surrounded with beautiful +gardens and a hedge of fish-geraniums over ten feet +high, covered with scarlet flowers. It seemed altogether +more like a fairy bower than a human habitation. +The windmills all over California, for pumping water, +make a very pretty feature in the landscape, as well as an +<a name="Page_290"></a>important one, as people are obliged to irrigate +their +gardens during the dry season. In August the hills are +as brown as ours in December.</p> +<p>Here, too, I first met Senator Sargent's family, and +visited them in Sacramento City, where we had a suffrage +meeting in the evening and one for women alone +next day. At a similar meeting in San Francisco six +hundred women were present in Platt's Hall. We discussed +marriage, maternity, and social life in general. +Supposing none but women were present, as all +were dressed in feminine costume, the audience were +quite free in their questions, and I equally so in my +answers. To our astonishment, the next morning, a +verbatim report of all that was said appeared in one of +the leading papers, with most respectful comments. +As I always wrote and read carefully what I had to say +on such delicate subjects, the language was well chosen +and the presentation of facts and philosophy quite unobjectionable; +hence, the information being as important +for men as for women, I did not regret the publication. +During the day a committee of three gentlemen +called to know if I would give a lecture to men +alone. As I had no lecture prepared, I declined, with +the promise to do so the next time I visited California. +The idea was novel, but I think women could do much +good in that way.</p> +<p>My readers may be sure that such enterprising +travelers as Miss Anthony and myself visited all the +wonders, saw the geysers, big trees, the Yosemite +Valley, and the immense mountain ranges, piled +one above another, until they seemed to make a +giant pathway from earth to heaven. We drove down +the mountain sides with Fox, the celebrated whip; six<a name="Page_291"></a>teen +people in an open carriage drawn by six horses, +down, down, down, as fast as we could go. I expected +to be dashed to pieces, but we safely descended in one +hour, heights we had taken three to climb. Fox held a +steady rein, and seemed as calm as if we were trotting +on a level, though any accident, such as a hot axle, a +stumbling horse, or a break in the harness would have +sent us down the mountain side, two thousand feet, to +inevitable destruction. He had many amusing anecdotes +to tell of Horace Greeley's trip to the Geysers. +The distinguished journalist was wholly unprepared for +the race down the mountains and begged Fox to hold +up. Sitting in front he made several efforts to seize the +lines. But Fox assured him that was the only possible +way they could descend in safety, as the horses could +guide the stage, but they could not hold it.</p> +<p>At Stockton we met a party of friends just returning +from the Yosemite, who gave us much valuable information +for the journey. Among other things, I was advised +to write to Mr. Hutchins, the chief authority +there, to have a good, strong horse in readiness to take +me down the steep and narrow path into the valley. +We took the same driver and carriage which our +friends had found trustworthy, and started early in the +morning. The dust and heat made the day's journey +very wearisome, but the prospect of seeing the wonderful +valley made all hardships of little consequence. +Quite a large party were waiting to mount their donkeys +and mules when we arrived. One of the attendants, +a man about as thin as a stair rod, asked me if I +was the lady who had ordered a strong horse; I being +the stoutest of the party, he readily arrived at that conclusion, +so my steed was promptly produced. But I +<a name="Page_292"></a>knew enough of horses and riding to see at a +glance +that he was a failure, with his low withers and high +haunches, for descending steep mountains. In addition +to his forward pitch, his back was immensely broad. +Miss Anthony and I decided to ride astride and had suits +made for that purpose; but alas! my steed was so broad +that I could not reach the stirrups, and the moment we +began to descend, I felt as if I were going over his head. +So I fell behind, and, when the party had all gone forward, +I dismounted, though my slender guide assured +me there was no danger, he "had been up and down a +thousand times." But, as I had never been at all, his +repeated experiences did not inspire me with courage. +I decided to walk. That, the guide said, was impossible. +"Well," said I, by way of compromise, "I will walk as +far as I can, and when I reach the impossible, I will try +that ill-constructed beast. I cannot see what you men +were thinking of when you selected such an animal for +this journey." And so we went slowly down, arguing +the point whether it were better to ride or walk; to trust +one's own legs, or, by chance, be precipitated thousands +of feet down the mountain side.</p> +<p>It was a hot August day; the sun, in the zenith, shining +with full power. My blood was at boiling heat with +exercise and vexation. Alternately sliding and walking, +catching hold of rocks and twigs, drinking at every +rivulet, covered with dust, dripping with perspiration, +skirts, gloves, and shoes in tatters, for four long +hours I struggled down to the end, when I laid myself +out on the grass, and fell asleep, perfectly exhausted, +having sent the guide to tell Mr. Hutchins that I had +reached the valley, and, as I could neither ride nor walk, +to send a wheelbarrow, or four men with a blanket to +<a name="Page_293"></a>transport me to the hotel. That very day the +Mariposa +Company had brought the first carriage into the valley, +which, in due time, was sent to my relief. Miss Anthony, +who, with a nice little Mexican pony and narrow +saddle, had made her descent with grace and dignity, +welcomed me on the steps of the hotel, and laughed immoderately +at my helpless plight.</p> +<p>As hour after hour had passed, she said, there had +been a general wonderment as to what had become of +me; "but did you ever see such magnificent scenery?" +"Alas!" I replied, "I have been in no mood for scenery. +I have been constantly watching my hands and feet +lest I should come to grief." The next day I was too +stiff and sore to move a finger. However, in due time +I awoke to the glory and grandeur of that wonderful +valley, of which no descriptions nor paintings can give +the least idea. With Sunset Cox, the leading Democratic +statesman, and his wife, we had many pleasant +excursions through the valley, and chats, during the +evening, on the piazza. There was a constant succession +of people going and coming, even in that far-off +region, and all had their adventures to relate. But none +quite equaled my experiences.</p> +<p>We spent a day in the Calaveras Grove, rested beneath +the "big trees," and rode on horseback through +the fallen trunk of one of them. Some vandals sawed +off one of the most magnificent specimens twenty feet +above the ground, and, on this the owners of the hotel +built a little octagonal chapel. The polished wood, +with bark for a border, made a very pretty floor. Here +they often had Sunday services, as it held about one +hundred people. Here, too, we discussed the suffrage +question, amid these majestic trees that had battled +<a name="Page_294"></a>with the winds two thousand years, and had +probably +never before listened to such rebellion as we preached +to the daughters of earth that day.</p> +<p>Here, again, we found our distinguished statesmen +immortalized, each with his namesake among these +stately trees. We asked our guide if there were +any not yet appropriated, might we name them +after women. As he readily consented, we wrote on +cards the names of a dozen leading women, and tacked +them on their respective trees. Whether Lucretia +Mott, Lucy Stone, Phoebe Couzins, and Anna Dickinson +still retain their identity, and answer when called +by the goddess Sylvia in that majestic grove, I know +not. Twenty-five years have rolled by since then, and +a new generation of visitors and guides may have left +no trace of our work behind them. But we whispered +our hopes and aspirations to the trees, to be wafted to +the powers above, and we left them indelibly pictured +on the walls of the little chapel, and for more mortal +eyes we scattered leaflets wherever we went, and made +all our pleasure trips so many propaganda for woman's +enfranchisement.</p> +<p>Returning from California I made the journey +straight through from San Francisco to New York. +Though a long trip to make without a break, yet I enjoyed +every moment, as I found most charming companions +in Bishop Janes and his daughter. The Bishop +being very liberal in his ideas, we discussed the various +theologies, and all phases of the woman question. I +shall never forget those pleasant conversations as we +sat outside on the platform, day after day, and in the soft +moonlight late at night. We took up the thread of +our debate each morning where we had dropped it the +<a name="Page_295"></a>night before. The Bishop told me about the +resolution +to take the word "obey" from the marriage ceremony +which he introduced, two years before, into the Methodist +General Conference and carried with but little opposition. +All praise to the Methodist Church! When +our girls are educated into a proper self-respect and +laudable pride of sex, they will scout all these old barbarisms +of the past that point in any way to the subject +condition of women in either the State, the Church, or +the home. Until the other sects follow her example, +I hope our girls will insist on having their conjugal +knots all tied by Methodist bishops.</p> +<p>The Episcopal marriage service not only still clings +to the word "obey," but it has a most humiliating +ceremony in giving the bride away. I was never +more struck with its odious and ludicrous features +than on once seeing a tall, queenly-looking woman, +magnificently arrayed, married by one of the tiniest +priests that ever donned a surplice and gown, +given away by the smallest guardian that ever +watched a woman's fortunes, to the feeblest, bluest-looking +little groom that ever placed a wedding ring +on bridal finger. Seeing these Lilliputians around +her, I thought, when the little priest said, "Who gives +this woman to this man," that she would take the responsibility +and say, "I do," but no! there she stood, +calm, serene, as if it were no affair of hers, while the +little guardian, placing her hand in that of the little +groom, said, "I do." Thus was this stately woman +bandied about by these three puny men, all of whom she +might have gathered up in her arms and borne off to +their respective places of abode.</p> +<p>But women are gradually waking up to the degrada<a name="Page_296"></a>tion +of these ceremonies. Not long since, at a wedding +in high life, a beautiful girl of eighteen was struck +dumb at the word "obey." Three times the priest pronounced +it with emphasis and holy unction, each +time slower, louder, than before. Though the magnificent +parlors were crowded, a breathless silence reigned. +Father, mother, and groom were in agony. The bride, +with downcast eyes, stood speechless. At length the +priest slowly closed his book and said, "The ceremony +is at an end." One imploring word from the groom, +and a faint "obey" was heard in the solemn stillness. +The priest unclasped his book and the knot was tied. +The congratulations, feast, and all, went on as though +there had been no break in the proceedings, but the lesson +was remembered, and many a rebel made by that +short pause.</p> +<p>I think all these reverend gentlemen who insist on +the word "obey" in the marriage service should be removed +for a clear violation of the Thirteenth Amendment +to the Federal Constitution, which says there shall +be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude within the +United States. As I gave these experiences to Bishop +Janes he laughed heartily, and asked me to repeat +them to each newcomer. Our little debating society +was the center of attraction. One gentleman asked me +if our woman suffrage conventions were as entertaining. +I told him yes; that there were no meetings in +Washington so interesting and so well attended as +ours.</p> +<p>As I had some woman-suffrage literature in my valise, +I distributed leaflets to all earnest souls who plied me +with questions. Like all other things, it requires great +discretion in sowing leaflets, lest you expose yourself to +<a name="Page_297"></a>a rebuff. I never offer one to a man with a +small head +and high heels on his boots, with his chin in the air, +because I know, in the nature of things, that he will +be jealous of superior women; nor to a woman whose +mouth has the "prunes and prisms" expression, for +I know she will say, "I have all the rights I want." +Going up to London one day, a few years later, I noticed +a saintly sister, belonging to the Salvation Army, +timidly offering some leaflets to several persons on +board; all coolly declined to receive them. Having had +much experience in the joys and sorrows of propagandism, +I put out my hand and asked her to give them to +me. I thanked her and read them before reaching London. +It did me no harm and her much good in thinking +that she might have planted a new idea in my +mind. Whatever is given to us freely, I think, in common +politeness, we should accept graciously.</p> +<p>While I was enjoying once more the comforts of +home, on the blue hills of Jersey, Miss Anthony was +lighting the fires of liberty on the mountain tops of +Oregon and Washington Territory. All through the +months of October, November, and December, 1871, +she was jolting about in stages, over rough roads, speaking +in every hamlet where a schoolhouse was to be +found, and scattering our breezy leaflets to the four +winds of heaven.</p> +<p>From 1869 to 1873 Miss Anthony and I made several +trips through Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, and Nebraska, +holding meetings at most of the chief towns; I speaking +in the afternoons to women alone on "Marriage and +Maternity." As Miss Anthony had other pressing engagements +in Kansas and Nebraska, I went alone to +Texas, speaking in Dallas, Sherman, and Houston, +<a name="Page_298"></a>where I was delayed two weeks by floods and thus +prevented +from going to Austin, Galveston, and some +points in Louisiana, where I was advertised to lecture. +In fact I lost all my appointments for a month. However, +there was a fine hotel in Houston and many +pleasant people, among whom I made some valuable +acquaintances. Beside several public meetings, I had +parlor talks and scattered leaflets, so that my time was +not lost.</p> +<p>As the floods had upset my plans for the winter, I +went straight from Houston to New York over the Iron +Mountain Railroad. I anticipated a rather solitary trip; +but, fortunately, I met General Baird, whom I knew, +and some other army officers, who had been down on the +Mexican border to settle some troubles in the "free +zone." We amused ourselves on the long journey with +whist and woman suffrage discussions. We noticed +a dyspeptic-looking clergyman, evidently of a bilious +temperament, eying us very steadily and disapprovingly +the first day, and in a quiet way we warned +each other that, in due time, he would give us a sermon +on the sin of card playing.</p> +<p>Sitting alone, early next morning, he seated himself +by my side, and asked me if I would allow +him to express his opinion on card playing. I +said "Oh, yes! I fully believe in free speech." +"Well," said he, "I never touch cards. I think they +are an invention of the devil to lead unwary souls from +all serious thought of the stern duties of life and the +realities of eternity! I was sorry to see you, with your +white hair, probably near the end of your earthly career, +playing cards and talking with those reckless army officers, +who delight in killing their fellow-beings. No! I +<a name="Page_299"></a>do not believe in war or card playing; such +things do +not prepare the soul for heaven." "Well," said I, "you +are quite right, with your views, to abjure the society +of army officers and all games of cards. You, no doubt, +enjoy your own thoughts and the book you are reading, +more than you would the conversation of those gentlemen +and a game of whist. We must regulate our conduct +by our own highest ideal. While I deplore the +necessity of war, yet I know in our Army many of the +noblest types of manhood, whose acquaintance I prize +most highly. I enjoy all games, too, from chess down +to dominoes. There is so much that is sad and stern +in life that we need sometimes to lay down its burdens +and indulge in innocent amusements. Thus, you see, +what is wise from my standpoint is unwise from yours. +I am sorry that you repudiate all amusements, as they +contribute to the health of body and soul. You are +sorry that I do not think as you do and regulate my +life accordingly. You are sure that you are right. I am +equally sure that I am. Hence there is nothing to be +done in either case but to let each other alone, and wait +for the slow process of evolution to give to each of us a +higher standard." Just then one of the officers asked +me if I was ready for a game of whist, and I excused +myself from further discussion. I met many of those +dolorous saints in my travels, who spent so much +thought on eternity and saving their souls that they +lost all the joys of time, as well as those sweet virtues +of courtesy and charity that might best fit them for +good works on earth and happiness in heaven.</p> +<p>In the spring I went to Nebraska, and Miss Anthony +and I again made a Western tour, sometimes together +and sometimes by different routes. A constitutional +<a name="Page_300"></a>convention was in session in Lincoln, and it was +proposed +to submit an amendment to strike the word +"male" from the Constitution. Nebraska became a +State in March, 1867, and took "Equality before the +law" as her motto. Her Territorial legislature had +discussed, many times, proposed liberal legislation for +women, and her State legislature had twice considered +propositions for woman's enfranchisement. I had a +valise with me containing Hon. Benjamin F. Butler's +minority reports as a member of the Judiciary Committee +of the United States House of Representatives, in +favor of woman's right to vote under the Fourteenth +Amendment. As we were crossing the Platte River, +in transferring the baggage to the boat, my valise fell +into the river. My heart stood still at the thought of +such a fate for all those able arguments. After the +great General had been in hot water all his life, it was +grievous to think of any of his lucubrations perishing in +cold water at last. Fortunately they were rescued. +On reaching Lincoln I was escorted to the home of the +Governor, where I spread the documents in the sunshine, +and they were soon ready to be distributed among +the members of the constitutional convention.</p> +<p>After I had addressed the convention, some of the +members called on me to discuss the points of my +speech. All the gentlemen were serious and respectful +with one exception. A man with an unusually small +head, diminutive form, and crooked legs tried, at my +expense, to be witty and facetious. During a brief +pause in the conversation he brought his chair directly +before me and said, in a mocking tone, "Don't you +think that the best thing a woman can do is to perform +well her part in the role of wife and mother? My wife +<a name="Page_301"></a>has presented me with eight beautiful children; +is not +this a better life-work than that of exercising the right +of suffrage?"</p> +<p>I had had my eye on this man during the whole interview, +and saw that the other members were annoyed +at his behavior. I decided, when the opportune moment +arrived, to give him an answer not soon to be forgotten; +so I promptly replied to his question, as I +slowly viewed him from head to foot, "I have met few +men, in my life, worth repeating eight times." The +members burst into a roar of laughter, and one of them, +clapping him on the shoulder, said: "There, sonny, you +have read and spelled; you better go." This scene was +heralded in all the Nebraska papers, and, wherever the +little man went, he was asked why Mrs. Stanton +thought he was not worth repeating eight times.</p> +<p>During my stay in Lincoln there was a celebration +of the opening of some railroad. An immense crowd +from miles about assembled on this occasion. The +collation was spread and speeches were made in the open +air. The men congratulated each other on the wonderful +progress the State had made since it became an +organized Territory in 1854. There was not the slightest +reference, at first, to the women. One speaker said: +"This State was settled by three brothers, John, James, +and Joseph, and from them have sprung the great concourse +of people that greet us here to-day." I turned, +and asked the Governor if all these people had sprung, +Minerva-like, from the brains of John, James, and +Joseph. He urged me to put that question to the +speaker; so, in one of his eloquent pauses, I propounded +the query, which was greeted with loud and prolonged +cheers, to the evident satisfaction of the women pres<a name="Page_302"></a>ent. +The next speaker took good care to give the due +meed of praise to Ann, Jane, and Mary, and to every +mention of the mothers of Nebraska the crowd heartily +responded.</p> +<p>In toasting "the women of Nebraska," at the +collation, I said: "Here's to the mothers, who came +hither by long, tedious journeys, closely packed +with restless children in emigrant wagons, cooking +the meals by day, and nursing the babies by night, while +the men slept. Leaving comfortable homes in the +East, they endured all the hardships of pioneer life, +suffered, with the men, the attacks of the Dakota Indians +and the constant apprehension of savage raids, of prairie +fires, and the devastating locusts. Man's trials, his +fears, his losses, all fell on woman with double force; yet +history is silent concerning the part woman performed +in the frontier life of the early settlers. Men make no +mention of her heroism and divine patience; they take +no thought of the mental or physical agonies women +endure in the perils of maternity, ofttimes without nurse +or physician in the supreme hour of their need, going, +as every mother does, to the very gates of death in giving +life to an immortal being!"</p> +<p>Traveling all over these Western States in the early +days, seeing the privations women suffered, and listening +to the tales of sorrow at the fireside, I wondered +that men could ever forget the debt of gratitude they +owed to their mothers, or fail to commemorate their +part in the growth of a great people. Yet the men of +Nebraska have twice defeated the woman suffrage +amendment.</p> +<p>In 1874 Michigan was the point of interest to all +those who had taken part in the woman-suffrage move<a name="Page_303"></a>ment. +The legislature, by a very large majority, +submitted to a vote of the electors an amendment of the +Constitution, in favor of striking out the word "male" +and thus securing civil and political rights to the women +of the State. It was a very active campaign. Crowded +meetings were held in all the chief towns and cities. +Professor Moses Coit Tyler, and a large number of +ministers preached, every Sunday, on the subject of +woman's position. The Methodist conference passed +a resolution in favor of the amendment by a unanimous +vote. I was in the State during the intense heat of +May and June, speaking every evening to large audiences; +in the afternoon to women alone, and preaching +every Sunday in some pulpit. The Methodists, Universalists, +Unitarians, and Quakers all threw open their +churches to the apostles of the new gospel of equality +for women. We spoke in jails, prisons, asylums, +depots, and the open air. Wherever there were ears +to hear, we lifted up our voices, and, on the wings of the +wind, the glad tidings were carried to the remote corners +of the State, and the votes of forty thousand men, +on election day, in favor of the amendment were so +many testimonials to the value of the educational work +accomplished.</p> +<p>I made many valuable acquaintances, on that trip, +with whom I have maintained lifelong friendships. +One pleasant day I passed in the home of Governor +Bagley and his wife, with a group of pretty children. +I found the Governor deeply interested in +prison reform. He had been instrumental in passing a +law giving prisoners lights in their cells and pleasant +reading matter until nine o'clock. His ideas of what +prisons should be, as unfolded that day, have since been +<a name="Page_304"></a>fully realized in the grand experiment now being +successfully tried at Elmira, New York.</p> +<p>I visited the State prison at Jackson, and addressed +seven hundred men and boys, ranging from seventy +down to seventeen years of age. Seated on the dais +with the chaplain, I saw them file in to dinner, and, +while they were eating, I had an opportunity to study +the sad, despairing faces before me. I shall never forget +the hopeless expression of one young man, who had +just been sentenced for twenty years, nor how ashamed +I felt that one of my own sex, trifling with two lovers, +had fanned the jealousy of one against the other, until +the tragedy ended in the death of one and the almost +lifelong imprisonment of the other. If girls should be +truthful and transparent in any relations in life, surely +it is in those of love, involving the strongest passions +of which human nature is capable. As the chaplain +told me the sad story, and I noticed the prisoner's refined +face and well-shaped head, I felt that the young +man was not under the right influences to learn the +lesson he needed. Fear, coercion, punishment, are the +masculine remedies for moral weakness, but statistics +show their failure for centuries. Why not change the +system and try the education of the moral and intellectual +faculties, cheerful surroundings, inspiring influences? +Everything in our present system tends to +lower the physical vitality, the self-respect, the moral +tone, and to harden instead of reforming the criminal.</p> +<p>My heart was so heavy I did not know what to say to +such an assembly of the miserable. I asked the chaplain +what I should say. "Just what you please," he replied. +Thinking they had probably heard enough of +their sins, their souls, and the plan of salvation, I +<a name="Page_305"></a>thought I would give them the news of the day. +So I +told them about the woman suffrage amendment, what +I was doing in the State, my amusing encounters with +opponents, their arguments, my answers. I told them +of the great changes that would be effected in prison +life when the mothers of the nation had a voice in the +buildings and discipline. I told them what Governor +Bagley said, and of the good time coming when prisons +would no longer be places of punishment but schools of +reformation. To show them what women would do to +realize this beautiful dream, I told them of Elizabeth +Fry and Dorothea L. Dix, of Mrs. Farnham's experiment +at Sing Sing, and Louise Michel's in New Caledonia, +and, in closing, I said: "Now I want all of you +who are in favor of the amendment to hold up your +right hands." They gave a unanimous vote, and +laughed heartily when I said, "I do wish you could all +go to the polls in November and that we could lock our +opponents up here until after the election." I felt satisfied +that they had had one happy hour, and that I had +said nothing to hurt the feelings of the most unfortunate. +As they filed off to their respective workshops +my faith and hope for brighter days went with them. +Then I went all through the prison. Everything +looked clean and comfortable on the surface, but I met +a few days after a man, just set free, who had been there +five years for forgery. He told me the true inwardness +of the system; of the wretched, dreary life they suffered, +and the brutality of the keepers. He said the prison +was infested with mice and vermin, and that, during the +five years he was there, he had never lain down one +night to undisturbed slumber. The sufferings endured +in summer for want of air, he said, were indescrib<a name="Page_306"></a>able. +In this prison the cells were in the center of the +building, the corridors running all around by the windows, +so the prisoners had no outlook and no direct +contact with the air. Hence, if a careless keeper +forgot to open the windows after a storm, the +poor prisoners panted for air in their cells, like fish +out of water. My informant worked in the mattress +department, over the room where prisoners +were punished. He said he could hear the lash +and the screams of the victims from morning till +night. "Hard as the work is all day," said he, "it is +a blessed relief to get out of our cells to march across +the yard and get one glimpse of the heavens above, and +one breath of pure air, and to be in contact with other +human souls in the workshops, for, although we could +never speak to each other, yet there was a hidden current +of sympathy conveyed by look that made us one +in our misery."</p> +<p>Though the press of the State was largely in our +favor, yet there were some editors who, having no arguments, +exercised the little wit they did possess in low +ridicule. It was in this campaign that an editor in a +Kalamazoo journal said: "That ancient daughter +of Methuselah, Susan B. Anthony, passed through our +city yesterday, on her way to the Plainwell meeting, +with a bonnet on her head looking as if it had recently +descended from Noah's ark." Miss Anthony often referred +to this description of herself, and said, "Had I +represented twenty thousand voters in Michigan, that +political editor would not have known nor cared +whether I was the oldest or the youngest daughter of +Methuselah, or whether my bonnet came from the ark +or from Worth's."</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XIX"></a> +<h2><a name="Page_307"></a>CHAPTER XIX.</h2> +<h2>THE SPIRIT OF '76.</h2> +<br> +<p>The year 1876 was one of intense excitement and laborious +activity throughout the country. The anticipation +of the centennial birthday of the Republic, to be +celebrated in Philadelphia, stirred the patriotism of the +people to the highest point of enthusiasm. As each +State was to be represented in the great exhibition, +local pride added another element to the public interest. +Then, too, everyone who could possibly afford the journey +was making busy preparations to spend the Fourth +of July, the natal day of the Republic, mid the scenes +where the Declaration of Independence was issued in +1776, the Government inaugurated, and the first national +councils were held. Those interested in women's +political rights decided to make the Fourth a woman's +day, and to celebrate the occasion, in their various +localities, by delivering orations and reading their own +declaration of rights, with dinners and picnics in the +town halls or groves, as most convenient. But many +from every State in the Union made their arrangements +to spend the historic period in Philadelphia. Owing, +also, to the large number of foreigners who came over +to join in the festivities, that city was crammed to its +utmost capacity. With the crowd and excessive heat, +comfort was everywhere sacrificed to curiosity.</p> +<p>The enthusiasm throughout the country had given a +<a name="Page_308"></a>fresh impulse to the lyceum bureaus. Like the +ferryboats +in New York harbor, running hither and thither, +crossing each other's tracks, the whole list of lecturers +were on the wing, flying to every town and city from +San Francisco to New York. As soon as a new railroad +ran through a village of five hundred inhabitants +that could boast a schoolhouse, a church, or a hotel, +and one enterprising man or woman, a course of lectures +was at once inaugurated as a part of the winter's entertainments.</p> +<p>On one occasion I was invited, by mistake, to a +little town to lecture the same evening when the +Christy Minstrels were to perform. It was arranged, +as the town had only one hall, that I should speak from +seven to eight o'clock and the minstrels should have the +remainder of the time. One may readily see that, with +the minstrels in anticipation, a lecture on any serious +question would occupy but a small place in the hearts +of the people in a town where they seldom had +entertainments of any kind. All the time I was speaking +there was a running to and fro behind the scenes, where +the minstrels were transforming themselves with paints +and curly wigs into Africans, and laughing at each other's +jests. As it was a warm evening, and the windows +were open, the hilarity of the boys in the street added +to the general din. Under such circumstances it was +difficult to preserve my equilibrium. I felt like laughing +at my own comical predicament, and I decided to +make my address a medley of anecdotes and stories, +like a string of beads, held together by a fine thread of +argument and illustration. The moment the hand of +the clock pointed at eight o'clock the band struck +up, thus announcing that the happy hour for the min<a name="Page_309"></a>strels +had come. Those of my audience who wished to +stay were offered seats at half price; those who did not, +slipped out, and the crowd rushed in, soon packing the +house to its utmost capacity. I stayed, and enjoyed the +performance of the minstrels more than I had my own.</p> +<p>As the lyceum season lasted from October to June, +I was late in reaching Philadelphia. Miss Anthony and +Mrs. Gage had already been through the agony of finding +appropriate headquarters for the National Suffrage +Association. I found them pleasantly situated on the +lower floor of No. 1431 Chestnut Street, with the work +for the coming month clearly mapped out. As it was +the year for nominating candidates for the presidency +of the United States, the Republicans and +Democrats were about to hold their great' conventions. +Hence letters were to be written to them +recommending a woman suffrage plank in their platforms, +and asking seats for women in the conventions, +with the privilege of being heard in their own behalf. +On these letters our united wisdom was concentrated, +and twenty thousand copies of each were published.</p> +<p>Then it was thought pre-eminently proper that a +Woman's Declaration of Rights should be issued. +Days and nights were spent over that document. After +many twists from our analytical tweezers, with a critical +consideration of every word and sentence, it was at +last, by a consensus of the competent, pronounced very +good. Thousands were ordered to be printed, and were +folded, put in envelopes, stamped, directed, and +scattered. Miss Anthony, Mrs. Gage, and I worked +sixteen hours, day and night, pressing everyone who +came in, into the service, and late at night carrying +immense bundles to be mailed. With meetings, recep<a name="Page_310"></a>tions, +and a succession of visitors, all of whom we plied +with woman suffrage literature, we felt we had accomplished +a great educational work.</p> +<p>Among the most enjoyable experiences at our headquarters +were the frequent visits of our beloved Lucretia +Mott, who used to come from her country home bringing +us eggs, cold chickens, and fine Oolong tea. As +she had presented us with a little black teapot that, like +Mercury's mysterious pitcher of milk, filled itself for +every coming guest, we often improvised luncheons +with a few friends. At parting, Lucretia always +made a contribution to our depleted treasury. Here +we had many prolonged discussions as to the part we +should take, on the Fourth of July, in the public celebration. +We thought it would be fitting for us to read +our Declaration of Rights immediately after that of the +Fathers was read, as an impeachment of them and their +male descendants for their injustice and oppression. +Ours contained as many counts, and quite as important, +as those against King George in 1776. Accordingly, +we applied to the authorities to allow us seats on the +platform and a place in the programme of the public +celebration, which was to be held in the historic old +Independence Hall. As General Hawley was in charge +of the arrangements for the day, I wrote him as +follows:</p> +<div class="blkquot"> +<p style="text-align: right;">"1431 Chestnut Street, July 1, 1876.</p> +<p>"General Hawley.</p> +<p>"<i>Honored Sir</i>: As President of the National Woman's +Suffrage Association, I am authorized to ask you for +tickets to the platform, at Independence Hall, for the +celebration on the Fourth of July. We should like to +<a name="Page_311"></a>have seats for at least one representative woman +from +each State. We also ask your permission to read our +Declaration of Rights immediately after the reading of +the Declaration of Independence of the Fathers is finished. +Although these are small favors to ask as representatives +of one-half of the nation, yet we shall be under +great obligations to you if granted.</p> +<p style="margin-left: 40px;">"Respectfully Yours,</p> +<p style="margin-left: 80px;">"Elizabeth Cady Stanton."</p> +</div> +<p>To this I received the following reply:</p> +<div class="blkquot"> +<p style="text-align: right;">"U.S.C.C. Headquarters, July 2.</p> +<p>"Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton.</p> +<p>"<i>Dear Madam</i>: I send you, with pleasure, half a dozen +cards of invitation. As the platform is already crowded, +it is impossible to reserve the number of seats you desire. +I regret to say it is also impossible for us to make +any change in the programme at this late hour. We +are crowded for time to carry out what is already +proposed.</p> +<p style="margin-left: 40px;">"Yours Very Respectfully,</p> +<p style="margin-left: 80px;">"Joseph R. Hawley,<br> +"President, U.S.C.C."</p> +</div> +<p>With this rebuff, Mrs. Mott and I decided that we +would not accept the offered seats, but would be ready +to open our own convention called for that day, at the +First Unitarian church, where the Rev. William H. Furness +had preached for fifty years. But some of our +younger coadjutors decided that they would occupy +the seats and present our Declaration of Rights. They +said truly, women will be taxed to pay the expenses of +<a name="Page_312"></a>this celebration, and we have as good a right to +that +platform and to the ears of the people as the men have, +and we will be heard.</p> +<p>That historic Fourth of July dawned at last, one of +the most oppressive days of that heated season. +Susan B. Anthony, Matilda Joslyn Gage, Sara Andrews +Spencer, Lillie Devereux Blake, and Phoebe W. Couzins +made their way through the crowds under the broiling +sun of Independence Square, carrying the Woman's +Declaration of Rights. This Declaration had been +handsomely engrossed by one of their number, and +signed by the oldest and most prominent advocates of +woman's enfranchisement. Their tickets of admission +proved an "open sesame" through the military barriers, +and, a few moments before the opening of the +ceremonies, these women found themselves within the +precincts from which most of their sex were excluded.</p> +<p>The Declaration of 1776 was read by Richard Henry +Lee of Virginia, about whose family clusters so much +historic fame. The moment he finished reading was +determined upon as the appropriate time for the +presentation of the Woman's Declaration. Not quite sure +how their approach might be met, not quite certain if, +at this final moment, they would be permitted to reach +the presiding officer, those ladies arose and made their +way down the aisle. The bustle of preparation for the +Brazilian hymn covered their advance. The foreign +guests and the military and civil officers who filled the +space directly in front of the speaker's stand, courteously +made way, while Miss Anthony, in fitting words, +presented the Declaration to the presiding officer. +Senator Ferry's face paled as, bowing low, with no word +he received the Declaration, which thus became part of +<a name="Page_313"></a>the day's proceedings. The ladies turned, +scattering +printed copies as they deliberately walked down the +platform. On every side eager hands were outstretched, +men stood on seats and asked for them, while General +Hawley, thus defied and beaten in his audacious denial +to women of the right to present their Declaration, +shouted, "Order, order!"</p> +<p>Passing out, these ladies made their way to a platform, +erected for the musicians, in front of Independence +Hall. Here, under the shadow of Washington's +statue, back of them the old bell that proclaimed "liberty +to all the land and all the inhabitants thereof," they +took their places, and, to a listening, applauding crowd, +Miss Anthony read the Woman's Declaration. During +the reading of the Declaration, Mrs. Gage stood beside +Miss Anthony and held an umbrella over her head, +to shelter her friend from the intense heat of the noonday +sun. And thus in the same hour, on opposite sides +of old Independence Hall, did the men and women express +their opinions on the great principles proclaimed +on the natal day of the Republic. The Declaration was +handsomely framed, and now hangs in the Vice President's +room in the Capitol at Washington.</p> +<p>These heroic ladies then hurried from Independence +Hall to the church, already crowded with an expectant +audience, to whom they gave a full report of the +morning's proceedings. The Hutchinsons of worldwide +fame were present in their happiest vein, +interspersing the speeches with appropriate songs and +felicitous remarks. For five long hours on that hot +midsummer day a crowded audience, many standing, +listened with profound interest and reluctantly +dispersed at last, all agreeing that it was one of the +<a name="Page_314"></a>most impressive and enthusiastic meetings they +had +ever attended.</p> +<p>All through our Civil War the slaves on the Southern +plantations had an abiding faith that the terrible conflict +would result in freedom for their race. Just so +through all the busy preparations of the Centennial, the +women of the nation felt sure that the great national +celebration could not pass without the concession of +some new liberties to them. Hence they pressed their +claims at every point, at the Fourth of July celebration +in the exposition buildings, and in the Republican and +Democratic nominating conventions; hoping to get a +plank in the platforms of both the great political parties.</p> +<p>The Woman's Pavilion upon the centennial grounds +was an afterthought, as theologians claim woman herself +to have been. The women of the country, after having +contributed nearly one hundred thousand dollars to +the centennial stock, found there had been no provision +made for the separate exhibition of their work. The +centennial board, of which Mrs. Gillespie was president, +then decided to raise funds for the erection of a separate +building, to be known as the Woman's Pavilion. +It covered an acre of ground, and was erected at an expense +of thirty thousand dollars—a small sum in comparison +with the money which had been raised by women +and expended on the other buildings, not to speak of +the State and national appropriations, which the taxes +levied on them had largely helped to swell.</p> +<p>The Pavilion was no true exhibit of woman's art. +Few women are, as yet, owners of the business which +their industry largely makes remunerative. Cotton +factories, in which thousands of women work, are owned +by men. The shoe business, in some branches of which +<a name="Page_315"></a>women are doing more than half the work, is +under the +ownership of men. Rich embroideries from India, rugs +of downy softness from Turkey, the muslin of Decca, +anciently known as "The Woven Wind," the pottery +and majolica ware of P. Pipsen's widow, the cartridges +and envelopes of Uncle Sam, Waltham watches, whose +finest mechanical work is done by women, and ten thousand +other industries found no place in the pavilion. +Said United States Commissioner Meeker of Colorado, +"Woman's work comprises three-fourths of the exposition; +it is scattered through every building; take it +away, and there would be no exposition."</p> +<p>But this pavilion rendered one good service to +woman in showing her capabilities as an engineer. The +boiler, which furnished the force for running its work, +was under the charge of a young Canadian girl, Miss +Allison, who, from childhood, had loved machinery, +spending much time in the large saw and grist mills of +her father, run by engines of two and three hundred +horse-power, which she sometimes managed for amusement. +When her name was proposed for running the +pavilion machinery, it caused much opposition. It was +said that the committee would, some day, find the pavilion +blown to atoms; that the woman engineer would +spend her time reading novels instead of watching the +steam gauge; that the idea was impracticable and +should not be thought of. But Miss Allison soon +proved her capabilities and the falseness of these +prophecies by taking her place in the engine room and +managing its workings with perfect ease. Six power +looms, on which women wove carpets, webbing, silks, +etc., were run by this engine. At a later period the +printing of <i>The New Century for Woman</i>, a paper pub<a + name="Page_316"></a>lished +by the centennial commission in the woman's +building, was done by its means. Miss Allison declared +the work to be more cleanly, more pleasant, and infinitely +less fatiguing than cooking over a kitchen +stove. "Since I have been compelled to earn my own +living," she said, "I have never been engaged in work +I like so well. Teaching school is much harder, and one +is not paid so well." She expressed her confidence in her +ability to manage the engines of an ocean steamer, +and said that there were thousands of small engines +in use in various parts of the country, and no reason +existed why women should not be employed to manage +them,—following the profession of engineer as a regular +business,—an engine requiring far less attention than +is given by a nursemaid or a mother to a child.</p> +<p>But to have made the Woman's Pavilion grandly +historic, upon its walls should have been hung the +yearly protest of Harriet K. Hunt against taxation +without representation; the legal papers served +upon the Smith sisters when, for their refusal to +pay taxes while unrepresented, their Alderney cows +were seized and sold; the papers issued by the +city of Worcester for the forced sale of the house +and lands of Abby Kelly Foster, the veteran abolitionist, +because she refused to pay taxes, giving the +same reason our ancestors gave when they resisted +taxation; a model of Bunker Hill monument, its foundation +laid by Lafayette in 1825, but which remained +unfinished nearly twenty years, until the famous German +danseuse, Fanny Ellsler, gave the proceeds of a public +performance for that purpose. With these should have +been exhibited framed copies of all the laws bearing +unjustly upon women—those which rob her of her name, +<a name="Page_317"></a>her earnings, her property, her children, her +person; also +the legal papers in the case of Susan B. Anthony, who +was tried and fined for claiming her right to vote under +the Fourteenth Amendment, and the decision of Mr. +Justice Miller in the case of Myra Bradwell, denying +national protection for woman's civil rights; and the +later decision of Chief Justice Waite of the United +States Supreme Court against Virginia L. Minor, denying +women national protection for their political +rights; decisions in favor of State rights which imperil +the liberties not only of all women, but of every white +man in the nation.</p> +<p>Woman's most fitting contributions to the Centennial +Exposition would have been these protests, laws, +and decisions, which show her political slavery. But +all this was left for rooms outside of the centennial +grounds, upon Chestnut Street, where the National +Woman's Suffrage Association hoisted its flag, made its +protests, and wrote the Declaration of Rights of the +women of the United States.</p> +<p>To many thoughtful people it seemed captious and +unreasonable for women to complain of injustice in this +free land, amidst such universal rejoicings. When the +majority of women are seemingly happy, it is natural to +suppose that the discontent of the minority is the result +of their unfortunate individual idiosyncrasies, and +not of adverse influences in established conditions. +But the history of the world shows that the vast +majority, in every generation, passively accept the +conditions into which they are born, while those who +demanded larger liberties are ever a small, ostracized minority, +whose claims are ridiculed and ignored. From +our standpoint we would honor any Chinese woman +<a name="Page_318"></a>who claimed the right to her feet and powers of +locomotion; +the Hindoo widows who refused to ascend the +funeral pyre of their husbands; the Turkish women who +threw off their masks and veils and left the harem; the +Mormon women who abjured their faith and demanded +monogamic relations. Why not equally honor the intelligent +minority of American women who protest +against the artificial disabilities by which their freedom +is limited and their development arrested? That only +a few, under any circumstances, protest against the injustice +of long-established laws and customs, does not +disprove the fact of the oppressions, while the satisfaction +of the many, if real, only proves their apathy +and deeper degradation. That a majority of the +women of the United States accept, without protest, +the disabilities which grow out of their disfranchisement +is simply an evidence of their ignorance and +cowardice, while the minority who demand a higher +political status clearly prove their superior intelligence +and wisdom.</p> +<p>At the close of the Forty-seventh Congress we made +two new demands: First, for a special committee to consider +all questions in regard to the civil and political +rights of women. We naturally asked the question, As +Congress has a special committee on the rights of Indians, +why not on those of women? Are not women, as a +factor in civilization, of more importance than Indians? +Secondly, we asked for a room, in the Capitol, where +our committee could meet, undisturbed, whenever they +saw fit. Though these points were debated a long time, +our demands were acceded to at last. We now have +our special committee, and our room, with "Woman +Suffrage" in gilt letters, over the door. In our strug<a name="Page_319"></a>gle +to achieve this, while our champion, the senior +Senator from Massachusetts, stood up bravely in the +discussion, the opposition not only ridiculed the special +demand, but all attempts to secure the civil and +political rights of women. As an example of the arguments +of the opposition, I give what the Senator from +Missouri said. It is a fair specimen of all that was produced +on that side of the debate. Mr. Vest's poetical +flights are most inspiring:</p> +<div class="blkquot"> +<p>"The Senate now has forty-one committees, with a +small army of messengers and clerks, one-half of whom, +without exaggeration, are literally without employment. +I shall not pretend to specify the committees +of this body which have not one single bill, resolution, +or proposition of any sort pending before them, and +have not had for months. But, Mr. President, out of all +committees without business, and habitually without +business, in this body, there is one that, beyond any +question, could take jurisdiction of this matter and do +it ample justice. I refer to that most respectable and +antique institution, the Committee on Revolutionary +Claims. For thirty years it has been without business. +For thirty long years the placid surface of that parliamentary +sea has been without one single ripple. If +the Senator from Massachusetts desires a tribunal for a +calm, judicial equilibrium and examination—a tribunal +far from the 'madding crowd's ignoble strife'—a tribunal +eminently respectable, dignified and unique; why not +send this question to the Committee on Revolutionary +Claims? It is eminently proper that this subject +should go to that committee because, if there is any +revolutionary claim in this country, it is that of woman +suffrage. (Laughter.) It revolutionizes society; it +<a name="Page_320"></a>revolutionizes religion; it revolutionizes the +Constitution +and laws; and it revolutionizes the opinions +of those so old-fashioned among us as to believe that +the legitimate and proper sphere of woman is the family +circle, as wife and mother, and not as politician and +voter—those of us who are proud to believe that</p> +</div> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Woman's noblest station is retreat:</p> +<p>Her fairest virtues fly from public sight;</p> +<p>Domestic worth—that shuns too strong a light.</p> +</div> +</div> +<div class="blkquot"> +<p>"Before that Committee on Revolutionary Claims +why could not this most revolutionary of all claims receive +immediate and ample attention? More than +that, as I said before, if there is any tribunal that could +give undivided time and dignified attention, is it not +this committee? If there is one peaceful haven of rest, +never disturbed by any profane bill or resolution of any +sort, it is the Committee on Revolutionary Claims. It +is, in parliamentary life, described by that ecstatic verse +in Watts' hymn—</p> +</div> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"There shall I bathe my wearied soul</p> +<p>In seas of endless rest.</p> +<p>And not one wave of trouble roll</p> +<p>Across my peaceful breast.</p> +</div> +</div> +<div class="blkquot"> +<p>"By all natural laws, stagnation breeds disease and +death, and what could stir up this most venerable and +respectable institution more than an application of the +strong-minded, with short hair and shorter skirts, invading +its dignified realm and elucidating all the excellences +of female suffrage. Moreover, if these ladies +could ever succeed in the providence of God in obtaining +a report from that committee, it would end this +<a name="Page_321"></a>question forever; for the public at large and +myself included, +in view of that miracle of female blandishment +and female influence, would surrender at once, and female +suffrage would become constitutional and lawful. +Sir, I insist upon it that, in deference to this committee, +in deference to the fact that it needs this sort of regimen +and medicine, this whole subject should be so referred."</p> +</div> +<p>This gives a very fair idea of the character of the +arguments produced by our opponents, from the inauguration +of the movement. But, as there are no +arguments in a republican government in favor of an +aristocracy of sex, ridicule was really the only available +weapon. After declaring "that no just government +can be formed without the consent of the governed," +"that taxation without representation is tyranny," it is +difficult to see on what basis one-half the people are +disfranchised.</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XX"></a> +<h2><a name="Page_322"></a>CHAPTER XX.</h2> +<h2>WRITING "THE HISTORY OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE."</h2> +<br> +<p>The four years following the Centennial were busy, +happy ones, of varied interests and employments, public +and private. Sons and daughters graduating from +college, bringing troops of young friends to visit us; the +usual matrimonial entanglements, with all their promises +of celestial bliss intertwined with earthly doubts and +fears; weddings, voyages to Europe, business ventures—in +this whirl of plans and projects our heads, hearts, +and hands were fully occupied. Seven boys and girls +dancing round the fireside, buoyant with all life's joys +opening before them, are enough to keep the most apathetic +parents on the watch-towers by day and anxious +even in dreamland by night. My spare time, if it can +be said that I ever had any, was given during these days +to social festivities. The inevitable dinners, teas, picnics, +and dances with country neighbors, all came round +in quick succession. We lived, at this time, at Tenafly, +New Jersey, not far from the publisher of the <i>Sun</i>, +Isaac W. England, who also had seven boys and girls +as full of frolic as our own. Mrs. England and I +entered into all their games with equal zest. The +youngest thought half the fun was to see our enthusiasm +in "blindman's buff," "fox and geese," and +"bean bags." It thrills me with delight, even now, to +see these games!</p> +<p>Mr. England was the soul of hospitality. He was +<a name="Page_323"></a>never more happy than when his house was crowded +with guests, and his larder with all the delicacies of the +season. Though he and Mr. Stanton were both connected +with that dignified journal, the New York <i>Sun</i>, +yet they often joined in the general hilarity. I laugh, +as I write, at the memory of all the frolics we had on the +blue hills of Jersey.</p> +<p>In addition to the domestic cares which a large family +involved, Mrs. Gage, Miss Anthony, and I were +already busy collecting material for "The History of +Woman Suffrage." This required no end of correspondence. +Then my lecturing trips were still a part of the +annual programme. Washington conventions, too, +with calls, appeals, resolutions, speeches and hearings +before the Committees of Congress and State legislatures, +all these came round in the year's proceedings +as regularly as pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving, +plum pudding for Christmas, and patriotism for Washington's +birthday. Those who speak for glory or +philanthropy are always in demand for college commencements +and Fourth of July orations, hence much +of Miss Anthony's eloquence, as well as my own, was +utilized in this way.</p> +<p>On October 18, 1880, I had an impromptu dinner +party. Elizabeth Boynton Harbert, May Wright +Thompson (now Sewall), Phoebe W. Couzins, and +Arethusa Forbes, returning from a Boston convention, +all by chance met under my roof. We had a very +merry time talking over the incidents of the convention, +Boston proprieties, and the general situation. As I +gave them many early reminiscences, they asked if I +had kept a diary. "No," I said, "not a pen scratch +of the past have I except what might be gathered from +<a name="Page_324"></a>many family letters." They urged me to begin a +diary +at once; so I promised I would on my coming birthday.</p> +<p>My great grief that day was that we were putting +in a new range, and had made no preparations +for dinner. This completely upset the presiding +genius of my culinary department, as she could +not give us the bounteous feast she knew was expected +on such occasions. I, as usual, when there was +any lack in the viands, tried to be as brilliant as possible +in conversation; discussing Nirvana, Karma, reincarnation, +and thus turning attention from the evanescent +things of earth to the joys of a life to come,—not an +easy feat to perform with strong-minded women,—but, +in parting, they seemed happy and refreshed, and all +promised to come again.</p> +<p>But we shall never meet there again, as the old, +familiar oaks and the majestic chestnut trees have passed +into other hands. Strange lovers now whisper their +vows of faith and trust under the tree where a most +charming wedding ceremony—that of my daughter +Margaret—was solemnized one bright October day. +All Nature seemed to do her utmost to heighten the +beauty of the occasion. The verdure was brilliant with +autumnal tints, the hazy noonday sun lent a peculiar +softness to every shadow—even the birds and insects +were hushed to silence. As the wedding march rose +soft and clear, two stately ushers led the way; then a +group of Vassar classmates, gayly decked in silks of different +colors, followed by the bride and groom. An immense +Saint Bernard dog, on his own account brought +up the rear, keeping time with measured tread. He +took his seat in full view, watching, alternately, the officiating +clergyman, the bride and groom, and guests, as +<a name="Page_325"></a>if to say: "What does all this mean?" No one +behaved +with more propriety and no one looked more +radiant than he, with a ray of sunlight on his beautiful +coat of long hair, his bright brass collar, and his wonderful +head. Bruno did not live to see the old home +broken up, but sleeps peacefully there, under the chestnut +trees, and fills a large place in many of our pleasant +memories.</p> +<p>On November 12, 1880, I was sixty-five years old, +and, pursuant to my promise, I then began my diary. +It was a bright, sunny day, but the frost king was at +work; all my grand old trees, that stood like sentinels, +to mark the boundary of my domain, were stripped of +their foliage, and their brilliant colors had faded into +a uniform brown; but the evergreens and the tall, prim +cedars held their own, and, when covered with snow, +their exquisite beauty brought tears to my eyes. One +need never be lonely mid beautiful trees.</p> +<p>My thoughts were with my absent children—Harriot +in France, Theodore in Germany, Margaret with her +husband and brother Gerrit, halfway across the continent, +and Bob still in college. I spent the day writing +letters and walking up and down the piazza, and enjoyed, +from my windows, a glorious sunset. Alone, on birthdays +or holidays, one is very apt to indulge in sad retrospections. +The thought of how much more I might +have done for the perfect development of my children +than I had accomplished, depressed me. I thought of +all the blunders in my own life and in their education. +Little has been said of the responsibilities of parental +life; accordingly little or nothing has been done. I had +such visions of parental duties that day that I came to +the conclusion that parents never could pay the debt +<a name="Page_326"></a>they owe their children for bringing them into +this +world of suffering, unless they can insure them sound +minds in sound bodies, and enough of the good things +of this life to enable them to live without a continual +struggle for the necessaries of existence. I have no sympathy +with the old idea that children owe parents a +debt of gratitude for the simple fact of existence, generally +conferred without thought and merely for their +own pleasure. How seldom we hear of any high or +holy preparation for the office of parenthood! Here, +in the most momentous act of life, all is left to chance. +Men and women, intelligent and prudent in all other +directions, seem to exercise no forethought here, but +hand down their individual and family idiosyncrasies in +the most reckless mariner.</p> +<p>On November 13 the New York <i>Tribune</i> announced +the death of Lucretia Mott, eighty-eight years old. +Having known her in the flush of life, when all her faculties +were at their zenith, and in the repose of age, +when her powers began to wane, her withdrawal from +among us seemed as beautiful and natural as the changing +foliage, from summer to autumn, of some grand old +oak I have watched and loved.</p> +<p>The arrival of Miss Anthony and Mrs. Gage, on November +20, banished all family matters from my mind. +What planning, now, for volumes, chapters, footnotes, +margins, appendices, paper, and type; of engravings, +title, preface, and introduction! I had never +thought that the publication of a book required +the consideration of such endless details. We stood +appalled before the mass of material, growing higher +and higher with every mail, and the thought of all +the reading involved made us feel as if our life<a name="Page_327"></a>work +lay before us. Six weeks of steady labor +all day, and often until midnight, made no visible decrease +in the pile of documents. However, before the +end of the month we had our arrangements all made +with publishers and engravers, and six chapters in print. +When we began to correct proof we felt as if something +was accomplished. Thus we worked through the winter +and far into the spring, with no change except +the Washington Convention and an occasional evening +meeting in New York city. We had frequent visits +from friends whom we were glad to see. Hither came +Edward M. Davis, Sarah Pugh, Adeline Thompson, +Frederick Cabot of Boston, Dr. William F. Channing, +and sweet little Clara Spence, who recited for us some +of the most beautiful selections in her repertoire.</p> +<p>In addition we had numberless letters from friends +and foes, some praising and some condemning our proposed +undertaking, and, though much alone, we were +kept in touch with the outside world. But so conflicting +was the tone of the letters that, if we had not +taken a very fair gauge of ourselves and our advisers, +we should have abandoned our project and buried all +the valuable material collected, to sleep in pine boxes +forever.</p> +<p>At this time I received a very amusing letter from the +Rev. Robert Collyer, on "literary righteousness," quizzing +me for using one of his anecdotes in my sketch of +Lucretia Mott, without giving him credit. I laughed +him to scorn, that he should have thought it was +my duty to have done so. I told him plainly that +he belonged to a class of "white male citizens," +who had robbed me of all civil and political rights; of +property, children, and personal freedom; and now it +<a name="Page_328"></a>ill became him to call me to account for using +one of +his little anecdotes that, ten to one, he had cribbed +from some woman. I told him that I considered his +whole class as fair game for literary pilfering. That +women had been taxed to build colleges to educate +men, and if we could pick up a literary crumb that had +fallen from their feasts, we surely had a right to it. +Moreover, I told him that man's duty in the world was +to work, to dig and delve for jewels, real and ideal, and +lay them at woman's feet, for her to use as she might +see fit; that he should feel highly complimented, instead +of complaining, that he had written something I +thought worth using. He answered like the nobleman +he is; susceptible of taking in a new idea. He admitted +that, in view of the shortcomings of his entire sex, he +had not one word to say in the way of accusation, but +lay prostrate at my feet in sackcloth and ashes, wondering +that he had not taken my view of the case in +starting.</p> +<p>Only twice in my life have I been accused of quoting +without giving due credit. The other case was +that of Matilda Joslyn Gage. I had, on two or three +occasions, used a motto of hers in autograph books, +just as I had sentiments from Longfellow, Lowell, +Shakespeare, Moses, or Paul. In long lyceum trips innumerable +autograph books met one at every turn, in +the cars, depots, on the platform, at the hotel and in +the omnibus. "A sentiment, please," cry half a dozen +voices. One writes hastily different sentiments for +each. In this way I unfortunately used a pet sentiment +of Matilda's. So, here and now, I say to my autograph +admirers, from New York to San Francisco, whenever +you see "There is a word sweeter than Mother, Home, +<a name="Page_329"></a>or Heaven—that word is Liberty," remember it +belongs +to Matilda Joslyn Gage. I hope, now, that Robert and +Matilda will say, in their posthumous works, that I made +the <i>amende honorable</i>, as I always strive to do when +friends feel they have not been fairly treated.</p> +<p>In May, 1881, the first volume of our History appeared; +it was an octavo, containing 871 pages, with +good paper, good print, handsome engravings, and +nicely bound. I welcomed it with the same feeling of +love and tenderness as I did my firstborn. I took the +same pleasure in hearing it praised and felt the same +mortification in hearing it criticised. The most hearty +welcome it received was from Rev. William Henry +Channing. He wrote us that it was as interesting and +fascinating as a novel. He gave it a most flattering +notice in one of the London papers. John W. Forney, +too, wrote a good review and sent a friendly letter. +Mayo W. Hazeltine, one of the ablest critics in this country, +in the New York <i>Sun</i>, also gave it a very careful +and complimentary review. In fact, we received far +more praise and less blame than we anticipated. We +began the second volume in June. In reading over +the material concerning woman's work in the War, I +felt how little our labors are appreciated. Who can +sum up all the ills the women of a nation suffer from +war? They have all of the misery and none of the +glory; nothing to mitigate their weary waiting and +watching for the loved ones who will return no more.</p> +<p>In the spring of 1881, to vary the monotony of +the work on the history, we decided to hold a series +of conventions through the New England States. +We began during the Anniversary week in Boston, +and had several crowded, enthusiastic meetings in +<a name="Page_330"></a>Tremont Temple. In addition to our suffrage +meetings, +I spoke before the Free Religious, Moral +Education, and Heredity associations. All our speakers +stayed at the Parker House, and we had a very +pleasant time visiting together in our leisure hours. +We were received by Governor Long, at the State +House. He made a short speech, in favor of woman +suffrage, in reply to Mrs. Hooker. We also called on +the Mayor, at the City Hall, and went through Jordan +& Marsh's great mercantile establishment, where the +clerks are chiefly young girls, who are well fed and +housed, and have pleasant rooms, with a good library, +where they sit and read in the evening. We went +through the Sherborn Reformatory Prison for Women, +managed entirely by women. We found it clean and +comfortable, more like a pleasant home than a place of +punishment.</p> +<p>Mrs. Robinson, Miss Anthony, and I were invited +to dine with the Bird Club. No woman, other +than I, had ever had that honor before. I dined +with them in 1870, escorted by "Warrington" of +the Springfield <i>Republican</i> and Edwin Morton. There +I met Frank Sanborn for the first time. Frank Bird held +about the same place in political life in Massachusetts, +that Thurlow Weed did in the State of New York for +forty years. In the evening we had a crowded reception +at the home of Mrs. Fenno Tudor, who occupied +a fine old residence facing the Common, where we met +a large gathering of Boston reformers. On Decoration +Day, May 30, we went to Providence, where I was +the guest of Dr. William F. Channing. We had a very +successful convention there. Senator Anthony and ex-Governor +Sprague were in the audience and expressed +<a name="Page_331"></a>great pleasure, afterward, in all they had +heard. I +preached in Rev. Frederick Hinckley's church the previous +Sunday afternoon.</p> +<p>From Providence I hurried home, to meet my son +Theodore and his bride, who had just landed from +France. We decorated our house and grounds with +Chinese lanterns and national flags for their reception. +As we had not time to send to New York for +bunting, our flags—French and American—were all +made of bright red and blue cambric. The effect was +fine when they arrived; but, unfortunately, there came +up a heavy thunderstorm in the night and so drenched +our beautiful flags that they became colorless rags. +My little maid announced to me early in the morning +that "the French and Americans had had a great battle +during the night and that the piazza was covered with +blood." This was startling news to one just awakening +from a sound sleep. "Why, Emma!" I said, "what +do you mean?" "Why," she replied, "the rain has +washed all the color out of our flags, and the piazza is +covered with red and blue streams of water." As the +morning sun appeared in all its glory, chasing the dark +clouds away, our decorations did indeed look pale and +limp, and were promptly removed.</p> +<p>I was happily surprised with my tall, stately daughter, +Marguerite Berry. A fine-looking girl of twenty, +straight, strong, and sound, modest and pleasing. +She can walk miles, sketches from nature with great +skill and rapidity, and speaks three languages. I had +always said to my sons: "When you marry, choose a +woman with a spine and sound teeth; remember the +teeth show the condition of the bones in the rest of the +body." So, when Theodore introduced his wife to me, +<a name="Page_332"></a>he said, "You see I have followed your advice; +her spine +is as straight as it should be, and every tooth in her head +as sound as ivory." This reminds me of a young man +who used to put my stoves up for the winter. He told +me one day that he thought of getting married. +"Well," I said, "above all things get a wife with a +spine and sound teeth." Stove pipe in hand he turned +to me with a look of surprise, and said: "Do they ever +come without spines?"</p> +<p>In July, 1881, sitting under the trees, Miss Anthony +and I read and discussed Wendell Phillips' +magnificent speech before the Phi Beta Kappa +Society at Harvard College. This society had often +talked of inviting him, but was afraid of his +radical utterances. At last, hoping that years might +have modified his opinions and somewhat softened +his speech, an invitation was given. The élite of +Boston, the presidents and college professors from far +and near, were there. A great audience of the wise, the +learned, the distinguished in State and Church assembled. +Such a conservative audience, it was supposed, +would surely hold this radical in check. Alas! they +were all doomed, for once, to hear the naked truth, on +every vital question of the day. Thinking this might +be his only opportunity to rouse some liberal thought +in conservative minds, he struck the keynote of every +reform; defended labor strikes, the Nihilists of Russia, +prohibition, woman suffrage, and demanded reformation +in our prisons, courts of justice, and halls of legislation. +On the woman question, he said:</p> +<div class="blkquot"> +<p>"Social science affirms that woman's place in society +marks the level of civilization. From its twilight in +Greece, through the Italian worship of the Virgin, the +<a name="Page_333"></a>dreams of chivalry, the justice of the civil +law, and the +equality of French society, we trace her gradual recognition, +while our common law, as Lord Brougham confessed, +was, with relation to women, the opprobrium of +the age of Christianity. For forty years earnest men +and women, working noiselessly, have washed away the +opprobrium, the statute books of thirty States have +been remodeled, and woman stands, to-day, almost face +to face with her last claim—the ballot. It has been a +weary and thankless, though successful struggle. But +if there be any refuge from that ghastly curse, the vice +of great cities, before which social science stands palsied +and dumb, it is in this more equal recognition of women.</p> +<p>"If, in this critical battle for universal suffrage, our +fathers' noblest legacy to us and the greatest trust God +leaves in our hands, there be any weapon, which, once +taken from the armory, will make victory certain, it will +be as it has been in art, literature, and society, summoning +woman into the political arena. The literary class, +until within half a dozen years, has taken no note of this +great uprising; only to fling every obstacle in its way.</p> +<p>"The first glimpse we get of Saxon blood in history +is that line of Tacitus in his 'Germany,' which reads, +'In all grave matters they consult their women.' +Years hence, when robust Saxon sense has flung away +Jewish superstition and Eastern prejudice, and put +under its foot fastidious scholarship and squeamish +fashion, some second Tacitus from the valley of the +Mississippi will answer to him of the Seven Hills: 'In +all grave questions, we consult our women.'</p> +<p>"If the Alps, piled in cold and silence, be the emblem +of despotism, we joyfully take the ever restless ocean for +ours, only pure because never still. To be as good as +<a name="Page_334"></a>our fathers, we must be better. They silenced +their +fears and subdued their prejudices, inaugurating free +speech and equality with no precedent on the file. Let +us rise to their level, crush appetite, and prohibit temptation +if it rots great cities; intrench labor in sufficient +bulwarks against that wealth which, without the tenfold +strength of modern incorporations, wrecked the +Grecian and Roman states; and, with a sterner effort +still, summon woman into civil life, as re-enforcement to +our laboring ranks, in the effort to make our civilization +a success. Sit not like the figure on our silver +coin, looking ever backward.</p> +</div> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"'New occasions teach new duties,</p> +<p>Time makes ancient good uncouth,</p> +<p>They must upward still and onward,</p> +<p>Who would keep abreast of truth.</p> +<p>Lo! before us gleam her watch fires—</p> +<p>We ourselves must pilgrims be,</p> +<p>Launch our <i>Mayflower</i>, and steer boldly</p> +<p>Through the desperate winter sea,</p> +<p>Nor attempt the future's portal</p> +<p>With the past's blood-rusted key.'"</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>That Harvard speech in the face of fashion, bigotry, +and conservatism—so liberal, so eloquent, so brave—is a +model for every young man, who, like the orator, would +devote his talents to the best interests of the race, +rather than to his personal ambition for mere worldly +success.</p> +<p>Toward the end of October, Miss Anthony returned, +after a rest of two months, and we commenced work +again on the second volume of the History. November +2 being election day, the Republican carriage, decorated +with flags and evergreens, came to the door for +<a name="Page_335"></a>voters. As I owned the house and paid the taxes, +and +as none of the white males was home, I suggested that +I might go down and do the voting, whereupon the +gentlemen who represented the Republican committee +urged me, most cordially, to do so. Accompanied by +my faithful friend, Miss Anthony, we stepped into the +carriage and went to the poll, held in the hotel +where I usually went to pay taxes. When we entered +the room it was crowded with men. I was introduced +to the inspectors by Charles Everett, one of our +leading citizens, who said: "Mrs. Stanton is here, gentlemen, +for the purpose of voting. As she is a taxpayer, +of sound mind, and of legal age, I see no reason why she +should not exercise this right of citizenship."</p> +<p>The inspectors were thunderstruck. I think they +were afraid that I was about to capture the ballot +box. One placed his arms round it, with one hand close +over the aperture where the ballots were slipped in, and +said, with mingled surprise and pity, "Oh, no, madam! +Men only are allowed to vote." I then explained to +him that, in accordance with the Constitution of New +Jersey, women had voted in New Jersey down to 1801, +when they were forbidden the further exercise of the +right by an arbitrary act of the legislature, and, by a +recent amendment to the national Constitution, Congress +had declared that "all persons born or naturalized +in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction +thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State +wherein they reside" and are entitled to vote. I told +them that I wished to cast my vote, as a citizen of the +United States, for the candidates for United States +offices. Two of the inspectors sat down and pulled +their hats over their eyes, whether from shame or igno<a name="Page_336"></a>rance +I do not know. The other held on to the box, +and said "I know nothing about the Constitutions, +State or national. I never read either; but I do +know that in New Jersey, women have not voted in my +day, and I cannot accept your ballot." So I laid my +ballot in his hand, saying that I had the same right to +vote that any man present had, and on him must rest +the responsibility of denying me my rights of citizenship.</p> +<p>All through the winter Miss Anthony and I worked +diligently on the History. My daughter Harriot came +from Europe in February, determined that I should return +with her, as she had not finished her studies. To +expedite my task on the History she seized the laboring +oar, prepared the last chapter and corrected the proof +as opportunity offered. As the children were scattered +to the four points of the compass and my husband spent +the winter in the city, we decided to lease our house and +all take a holiday. We spent a month in New York +city, busy on the History to the last hour, with occasional +intervals of receiving and visiting friends. As I +dreaded the voyage, the days flew by too fast for my +pleasure.</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXI"></a> +<h2><a name="Page_337"></a>CHAPTER XXI.</h2> +<h2>IN THE SOUTH OF FRANCE.</h2> +<br> +<p>Having worked diligently through nearly two years +on the second volume of "The History of Woman Suffrage," +I looked forward with pleasure to a rest, in the +Old World, beyond the reach and sound of my beloved +Susan and the woman suffrage movement. On May +27, 1892, I sailed with my daughter Harriot on the +<i>Château Léoville</i> for Bordeaux. The many friends who +came to see us off brought fruits and flowers, boxes of +candied ginger to ward off seasickness, letters of introduction, +and light literature for the voyage. We had +all the daily and weekly papers, secular and religious, +the new monthly magazines, and several novels. We +thought we would do an immense amount of reading, +but we did very little. Eating, sleeping, walking on +deck, and watching the ever-changing ocean are about +all that most people care to do. The sail down the +harbor that bright, warm evening was beautiful, and, +we lingered on deck in the moonlight until a late hour.</p> +<p>I slept but little, that night, as two cats kept running +in and out of my stateroom, and my berth was so narrow +that I could only lie in one position—as straight +as if already in my coffin. Under such circumstances +I spent the night, thinking over everything that was +painful in my whole life, and imagining all the different +calamities that might befall my family in my absence. +<a name="Page_338"></a>It was a night of severe introspection and +intense dissatisfaction. +I was glad when the morning dawned and +I could go on deck. During the day my couch was +widened one foot, and, at night, the cats relegated to +other quarters.</p> +<p>We had a smooth, pleasant, uneventful voyage, until +the last night, when, on nearing the French coast, the +weather became dark and stormy. The next morning +our good steamer pushed slowly and carefully up the +broad, muddy Gironde and landed us on the bustling +quays of Bordeaux, where my son Theodore stood +waiting to receive us. As we turned to say farewell to +our sturdy ship—gazing up at its black iron sides besprinkled +with salty foam—a feeling of deep thankfulness +took possession of us, for she had been faithful to +her trust, and had borne us safely from the New World +to the Old, over thousands of miles of treacherous sea.</p> +<p>We spent a day in driving about Bordeaux, enjoying +the mere fact of restoration to <i>terra firma</i> after +twelve days' imprisonment on the ocean. Maritime +cities are much the same all the world over. The forests +of masts, the heavily laden drays, the lounging sailors, +the rough 'longshoremen, and the dirty quays, are +no more characteristic of Bordeaux than New York, +London, and Liverpool. But Bordeaux was interesting +as the birthplace of Montesquieu and as the capital +of ancient Guienne and Gascony.</p> +<p>But I must not forget to mention an accident that +happened on landing at Bordeaux. We had innumerable +pieces of baggage, a baby carriage, rocking chair, +a box of "The History of Woman Suffrage" for foreign +libraries, besides the usual number of trunks and satchels, +and one hamper, in which were many things we +<a name="Page_339"></a>were undecided whether to take or leave. Into +this, a +loaded pistol had been carelessly thrown. The hamper +being handled with an emphatic jerk by some jovial +French sailor, the pistol exploded, shooting the bearer +through the shoulder. He fell bleeding on the quay. +The dynamite scare being just at its height, the general +consternation was indescribable. Every Frenchman, +with vehement gestures, was chattering to his utmost +capacity, but keeping at a respectful distance from the +hamper. No one knew what had caused the trouble; +but Theodore was bound to make an investigation. +He proceeded to untie the ropes and examine the contents, +and there he found the pistol, from which, pointing +upward, he fired two other bullets. "Alas!" said +Hattie, "I put that pistol there, never dreaming it was +loaded." The wounded man was taken to the hospital. +His injuries were very slight, but the incident cost us +two thousand francs and no end of annoyance. I was +thankful that by some chance the pistol had not gone +off in the hold of the vessel and set the ship on fire, and +possibly sacrificed three hundred lives through one +girl's carelessness. Verily we cannot be too careful in +the use of firearms.</p> +<p>Bordeaux is a queer old town, with its innumerable +soldiers and priests perambulating in all directions. +The priests, in long black gowns and large black hats, +have a solemn aspect; but the soldiers, walking lazily +along, or guarding buildings that seem in no danger +from any living thing, are useless and ridiculous. The +heavy carts and harness move the unaccustomed observer +to constant pity for the horses. Besides everything +that is necessary for locomotion, they have an +endless number of ornaments, rising two or three feet +<a name="Page_340"></a>above the horses' heads—horns, bells, feathers, +and tassels. +One of their carts would weigh as much as three +of ours, and all their carriages are equally heavy.</p> +<p>It was a bright, cool day on which we took the train +for Toulouse, and we enjoyed the delightful run through +the very heart of old Gascony and Languedoc. It was +evident that we were in the South, where the sun is +strong, for, although summer had scarcely begun, the +country already wore a brown hue. But the narrow +strips of growing grain, the acres of grape vines, looking +like young currant bushes, and the fig trees scattered +here and there, looked odd to the eye of a native +of New York.</p> +<p>We passed many historical spots during that afternoon +journey up the valley of the Garonne. At Portets +are the ruins of the Château of Langoiran, built before +America was discovered, and, a few miles farther on, we +came to the region of the famous wines of Sauterne and +Château-Yquem. Saint Macaire is a very ancient +Gallo-Roman town, where they show one churches, +walls, and houses built fifteen centuries ago. One of +the largest towns has a history typical of this part +of France, where wars of religion and conquest +were once the order of the day. It was taken and retaken +by the Goths, Huns, Burgundians, and Saracens, +nobody knows how many times, and belonged, successively, +to the kings of France, to the dukes of Aquitaine, +to the kings of England, and to the counts of Toulouse. +I sometimes wonder whether the inhabitants of our +American towns, whose growth and development have +been free and untrammeled as that of a favorite child, +appreciate the blessings that have been theirs. How +true the lines of Goethe: "America, thou art much hap<a name="Page_341"></a>pier +than our old continent; thou hast no castles in +ruins, no fortresses; no useless remembrances, no +vain enemies will interrupt the inward workings of +thy life!"</p> +<p>We passed through Moissac, with its celebrated +organ, a gift of Mazarin; through Castle Sarrazin, +founded by the Saracens in the eighth century; through +Montauban, that stronghold of the early Protestants, +which suffered martyrdom for its religious faith; +through Grisolles, built on a Roman highway, and, at +last, in the dusk of the evening, we reached "the Capital +of the South," that city of learning—curious, interesting +old Toulouse.</p> +<p>Laura Curtis Bullard, in her sketch of me in "Our +Famous Women," says: "In 1882, Mrs. Stanton went +to France, on a visit to her son Theodore, and spent +three months at the convent of La Sagesse, in the city +of Toulouse." This is quite true; but I have sometimes +tried to guess what her readers thought I was doing +for three months in a convent. Weary of the trials +and tribulations of this world, had I gone there to prepare +in solitude for the next? Had I taken the veil in +my old age? Or, like high-church Anglicans and +Roman Catholics, had I made this my retreat? Not +at all. My daughter wished to study French advantageously, +my son lived in the mountains hard by, and +the garden of La Sagesse, with its big trees, clean +gravel paths, and cool shade, was the most delightful +spot.</p> +<p>In this religious retreat I met, from time to time, +some of the most radical and liberal-minded residents +of the South. Toulouse is one of the most important +university centers of France, and bears with credit +<a name="Page_342"></a>the proud title of "the learned city." With two +distinguished +members of the faculty, the late Dr. Nicholas +Joly and Professor Moliner of the law school, I +often had most interesting discussions on all the great +questions of the hour. That three heretics—I should +say, six, for my daughter, son, and his wife often joined +the circle—could thus sit in perfect security, and debate, +in the most unorthodox fashion, in these holy +precincts, all the reforms, social, political, and religious, +which the United States and France need in order to be +in harmony with the spirit of the age, was a striking +proof of the progress the world has made in freedom +of speech. The time was when such acts would have +cost us our lives, even if we had been caught expressing +our heresies in the seclusion of our own homes. But +here, under the oaks of a Catholic convent, with the +gray-robed sisters all around us, we could point out the +fallacies of Romanism itself, without fear or trembling. +Glorious Nineteenth Century, what conquests are +thine!</p> +<p>I shall say nothing of the picturesque streets of +antique Toulouse; nothing of the priests, who swarm +like children in an English town; nothing of the beautifully +carved stone façades of the ancient mansions, +once inhabited by the nobility of Languedoc, but now +given up to trade and commerce; nothing of the lofty +brick cathedrals, whose exteriors remind one of London +and whose interiors transfer you to "the gorgeous +East"; nothing of the Capitol, with its gallery rich in +busts of the celebrated sons of the South; nothing of +the museum, the public garden, and the broad river +winding through all. I must leave all these interesting +features of Toulouse and hasten up into the Black +<a name="Page_343"></a>Mountains, a few miles away, where I saw the +country +life of modern Languedoc.</p> +<p>At Jacournassy, the country seat of Mme. Berry, +whose daughter my son Theodore married, I spent +a month full of surprises. How everything differed +from America, and even from the plain below! The +peasants, many of them at least, can neither speak +French nor understand it. Their language is a patois, +resembling both Spanish and Italian, and they cling +to it with astonishing pertinacity. Their agricultural +implements are not less quaint than their speech. The +plow is a long beam with a most primitive share in +the middle, a cow at one end, and a boy at the other. +The grain is cut with a sickle and threshed with a flail +on the barn floor, as in Scripture times. Manure is +scattered over the fields with the hands. There was a +certain pleasure in studying these old-time ways. I +caught glimpses of the anti-revolutionary epoch, when +the king ruled the state and the nobles held the lands. +Here again I saw, as never before, what vast strides the +world has made within one century.</p> +<p>But, indoors, one returns to modern times. The +table, beds, rooms of the château were much the same +as those of Toulouse and New York city. The cooking +is not like ours, however, unless Delmonico's skill +be supposed to have extended to all the homes in Manhattan +Island, which is, unfortunately, not the case. +What an admirable product of French genius is the art +of cooking! Of incalculable value have been the culinary +teachings of Vatel and his followers.</p> +<p>One of the sources of amusement, during my sojourn +at Jacournassy, was of a literary nature. My +son Theodore was then busy collecting the materials +<a name="Page_344"></a>for his book entitled "The Woman Question in +Europe," +and every post brought in manuscripts and letters from +all parts of the continent, written in almost every +tongue known to Babel. So just what I came abroad +to avoid, I found on the very threshold where I came +to rest. We had good linguists at the château, and +every document finally came forth in English dress, +which, however, often needed much altering and polishing. +This was my part of the work. So, away off in +the heart of France, high up in the Black Mountains, +surrounded with French-speaking relatives and patois-speaking +peasants, I found myself once more putting +bad English into the best I could command, just as I +had so often done in America, when editor of <i>The Revolution</i>, +or when arranging manuscript for "The History +of Woman Suffrage." But it was labor in the cause of +my sex; it was aiding in the creation of "The Woman +Question in Europe," and so my pen did not grow +slack nor my hand weary.</p> +<p>The scenery in the Black Mountains is very grand, +and reminds one of the lofty ranges of mountains +around the Yosemite Valley in California. In the distance +are the snow-capped Pyrenees, producing a +solemn beauty, a profound solitude. We used to go +every evening where we could see the sun set and +watch the changing shadows in the broad valley below. +Another great pleasure here was watching the gradual +development of my first grandchild, Elizabeth +Cady Stanton, born at Paris, on the 3d of May, 1882. +She was a fine child; though only three months old her +head was covered with dark hair, and her large blue +eyes looked out with intense earnestness from beneath +her well-shaped brow.</p> +<p><a name="Page_345"></a>One night I had a terrible fright. I was the +only person +sleeping on the ground floor of the château, and my +room was at the extreme end of the building, with the +staircase on the other side. I had frequently been cautioned +not to leave my windows open, as someone +might get in. But, as I always slept with an open window, +winter and summer, I thought I would take the +risk rather than endure a feeling of suffocation +night after night. The blinds were solid, and to close +them was to exclude all the air, so I left them open +about a foot, braced by an iron hook. A favorite resort +for a pet donkey was under my window, where he +had uniformly slept in profound silence. But one +glorious moonlight night, probably to arouse me to +enjoy with him the exquisite beauty of our surroundings, +he put his nose through this aperture and gave one +of the most prolonged, resounding brays I ever heard. +Startled from a deep sleep, I was so frightened that at +first I could not move. My next impulse was to rush +out and arouse the family, but, seeing a dark head in +the window, I thought I would slam down the heavy +sash and check the intruder before starting. But just +as I approached the window, another agonizing bray +announced the innocent character of my midnight +visitor. Stretching out of the window to frighten him +away, a gentleman in the room above me, for the +same purpose, dashed down a pail of water, which the +donkey and I shared equally. He ran off at a double-quick +pace, while I made a hasty retreat.</p> +<p>On August 20, I returned to Toulouse and our +quiet convent. The sisters gave me a most affectionate +welcome and I had many pleasant chats, sitting +in the gardens, with the priests and professors. +<a name="Page_346"></a>Several times my daughter and I attended High +Mass +in the cathedral, built in the eleventh century. Being +entirely new to us it was a most entertaining spectacular +performance. With our American ideas of religious +devotion, it seemed to us that the people, as well as the +building, belonged to the Dark Ages. About fifty +priests, in mantles, gowns, and capes, some black, some +yellow,—with tinseled fringes and ornamentation,—with +all manner of gestures, genuflections, salutations, kneelings, +and burning of incense; with prayers, admonitions, +and sacraments, filled the altar with constant motion.</p> +<p>A tall man, dressed in red, wheeled in a large basket +filled with bread, which the priests, with cups of wine, +passed up and down among those kneeling at the altar. +At least half a dozen times the places at the altar were +filled—chiefly with women. We counted the men,—only +seven,—and those were old and tremulous, with +one foot in the grave. The whole performance was +hollow and mechanical. People walked in, crossed +themselves at the door with holy water, and, while +kneeling and saying their prayers, looked about examining +the dress of each newcomer, their lips moving +throughout, satisfied in reeling off the allotted number +of prayers in a given time. The one redeeming feature +in the whole performance was the grand music. The +deep-toned organ, whose sounds reverberated through +the lofty arches, was very impressive.</p> +<p>The convent consisted of three large buildings, each +three stories high, and a residence for the priests; also +a chapel, where women, at their devotions, might be +seen at various hours from four o'clock in the morning +until evening. Inclosed within a high stone wall were +beautiful gardens with fountains and shrines, where +<a name="Page_347"></a>images of departed saints, in alcoves lighted +with +tapers were worshiped on certain days of the year.</p> +<p>Such were our environments, and our minds naturally +often dwelt on the nature and power of the religion +that had built up and maintained for centuries +these peaceful resorts, where cultivated, scholarly men, +and women of fine sensibilities, could find rest from +the struggles of the outside world. The sisters, +who managed this large establishment, seemed happy +in the midst of their severe and multifarious duties. +Of the undercurrent of their lives I could not +judge, but on the surface all seemed smooth and +satisfactory. They evidently took great pleasure in +the society of each other. Every evening, from six to +eight, they all sat in the gardens in a circle together, +sewing, knitting, and chatting, with occasional merry +bursts of laughter. Their existence is not, by many degrees, +as monotonous as that of most women in isolated +households—especially of the farmer's wife in her solitary +home, miles away from a village and a post office. +They taught a school of fifty orphan girls, who lived in +the convent, and for whom they frequently had entertainments. +They also had a few boarders of the old +aristocracy of France, who hate the Republic and still +cling to their belief in Popes and Kings. For the +purpose of perfecting herself in the language, my daughter +embraced every opportunity to talk with all she met, +and thus learned the secrets of their inner life. As +Sister Rose spoke English, I gleaned from her what +knowledge I could as to their views of time and eternity. +I found their faith had not made much progress through +the terrible upheavals of the French Revolution. Although +the Jesuits have been driven out of France, and +<a name="Page_348"></a>the pictures of Saints, the Virgin Mary, and +Christ, +have been banished from the walls of their schools and +colleges, the sincere Catholics are more devoted to their +religion because of these very persecutions.</p> +<p>Theodore, his wife, and baby, and Mr. Blatch, a +young Englishman, came to visit us. The sisters and +school children manifested great delight in the baby, +and the former equal pleasure in Mr. Blatch's marked +attention to my daughter, as babies and courtships +were unusual tableaux in a convent. As my daughter +was studying for a university degree in mathematics, I +went with her to the Lycée, a dreary apartment in a +gloomy old building with bare walls, bare floors, dilapidated +desks and benches, and an old rusty stove. Yet +mid such surroundings, the professor always appeared +in full dress, making a stately bow to his class. I had +heard so much of the universities of France that I had +pictured to myself grand buildings, like those of our +universities; but, instead, I found that the lectures were +given in isolated rooms, here, there, and anywhere—uniformly +dreary inside and outside.</p> +<p>The first day we called on Professor Depesyrons. +After making all our arrangements for books and lectures, +he suddenly turned to my daughter, and, pointing +to the flounces on her dress, her jaunty hat, and some +flowers in a buttonhole, he smiled, and said: "All this, +and yet you love mathematics?" As we entered the +court, on our way to the Lycée and inquired for the +professor's lecture room, the students in little groups +watched us closely. The one who escorted us asked +several questions, and discovered, by our accent, that +we were foreigners, a sufficient excuse for the novelty +of our proceeding. The professor received us most +<a name="Page_349"></a>graciously, and ordered the janitor to bring us +chairs, +table, paper, and pencils.</p> +<p>Then we chatted pleasantly until the hour arrived for +his lecture. As I had but little interest in the subject, +and as the problems were pronounced in a foreign +tongue, I took my afternoon nap. There was no danger +of affronting the professor by such indifference to +his eloquence, as he faced the blackboard, filling it with +signs and figures as rapidly as possible; then expunging +them to refill again and again, without a break in his +explanations; talking as fast as his hand moved. Harriot +struggled several days to follow him, but found it +impossible, so we gave up the chase after cubes and +squares, and she devoted herself wholly to the study +of the language. These were days, for me, of perfect +rest and peace. Everything moved as if by magic, no +hurry and bustle, never a cross or impatient word +spoken. As only one or two of the sisters spoke English, +I could read under the trees uninterruptedly for +hours. Emerson, Ruskin, and Carlyle were my chosen +companions.</p> +<p>We made several pleasant acquaintances among +some Irish families who were trying to live on their +reduced incomes in Toulouse. One of these gave +us a farewell ball. As several companies of the French +army were stationed there, we met a large number of +officers at the ball. I had always supposed the French +were graceful dancers. I was a quiet "looker on in +Vienna," so I had an opportunity of comparing the +skill of the different nationalities. All admitted that +none glided about so easily and gracefully as the Americans. +They seemed to move without the least effort, +while the English, the French, and the Germans labored +<a name="Page_350"></a>in their dancing, bobbing up and down, jumping +and +jerking, out of breath and red in the face in five +minutes. One great pleasure we had in Toulouse was +the music of the military band in the public gardens, +where, for half a cent, we could have a chair and enjoy +pure air and sweet music for two hours.</p> +<p>We gave a farewell dinner at the Tivollier Hotel to +some of our friends. With speeches and toasts we had +a merry time. Professor Joly was the life of the occasion. +He had been a teacher in France for forty +years and had just retired on a pension. I presented +to him "The History of Woman Suffrage," and he +wrote a most complimentary review of it in one of the +leading French journals. Every holiday must have its +end. Other duties called me to England. So, after a +hasty good-by to Jacournassy and La Sagesse, to the +Black Mountains and Toulouse, to Languedoc and +the South, we took train one day in October, just as +the first leaves began to fall, and, in fourteen hours, were +at Paris. I had not seen the beautiful French capital +since 1840. My sojourn within its enchanting walls +was short,—too short,—and I woke one morning to find +myself, after an absence of forty-two years, again on the +shores of England, and before my eyes were fairly open, +grim old London welcomed me back. But the many +happy hours spent in "merry England" during the +winter of 1882-83 have not effaced from my memory +the four months in Languedoc.</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXII"></a> +<h2><a name="Page_351"></a>CHAPTER XXII.</h2> +<h2>REFORMS AND REFORMERS IN GREAT BRITAIN.</h2> +<br> +<p>Reaching London in the fogs and mists of November, +1882, the first person I met, after a separation of +many years, was our revered and beloved friend William +Henry Channing. The tall, graceful form was somewhat +bent; the sweet, thoughtful face somewhat sadder; the +crimes and miseries of the world seemed heavy +on his heart. With his refined, nervous organization, +the gloomy moral and physical atmosphere of London +was the last place on earth where that beautiful +life should have ended. I found him in earnest +conversation with my daughter and the young Englishman +she was soon to marry, advising them not +only as to the importance of the step they were about +to take, but as to the minor points to be observed in +the ceremony. At the appointed time a few friends +gathered in Portland Street Chapel, and as we approached +the altar our friend appeared in surplice and +gown, his pale, spiritual face more tender and beautiful +than ever. This was the last marriage service he ever +performed, and it was as pathetic as original. His +whole appearance was so in harmony with the exquisite +sentiments he uttered, that we who listened felt as if, +for the time being, we had entered with him into the +Holy of Holies.</p> +<p>Some time after, Miss Anthony and I called on him +to return our thanks for the very complimentary review +he had written of "The History of Woman Suf<a name="Page_352"></a>frage." +He thanked us in turn for the many pleasant +memories we had revived in those pages, "but," said +he, "they have filled me with indignation, too, at the +repeated insults offered to women so earnestly engaged +in honest endeavors for the uplifting of mankind. I +blushed for my sex more than once in reading these +volumes." We lingered long, talking over the events +connected with our great struggle for freedom. He +dwelt with tenderness on our disappointments, and +entered more fully into the humiliations suffered by +women, than any man we ever met. His views were +as appreciative of the humiliation of woman, through the +degradation of sex, as those expressed by John Stuart +Mill in his wonderful work on "The Subjection of +Women." He was intensely interested in Frances +Power Cobbe's efforts to suppress vivisection, and the +last time I saw him he was presiding at a parlor meeting +where Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell gave an admirable +address on the cause and cure of the social evil. Mr. +Channing spoke beautifully in closing, paying a warm +and merited compliment to Dr. Blackwell's clear and +concise review of all the difficulties involved in the +question.</p> +<p>Reading so much of English reformers in our journals, +of the Brights, McLarens, the Taylors; of Lydia Becker, +Josephine Butler, and Octavia Hill, and of their great +demonstrations with lords and members of Parliament +in the chair,—we had longed to compare the +actors in those scenes with our speakers on this +side of the water. At last we met them one and all in +great public meetings and parlor reunions, at dinners +and receptions. We listened to their public men in +Parliament, the courts, and the pulpit; to the women +<a name="Page_353"></a>in their various assemblies; and came to the +conclusion +that Americans surpass them in oratory and the conduct +of their meetings. A hesitating, apologetic manner +seems to be the national custom for an exordium +on all questions. Even their ablest men who have +visited this country, such as Kingsley, Stanley, Arnold, +Tyndall, and Coleridge, have all been criticised by the +American public for their elocutionary defects. They +have no speakers to compare with Wendell Phillips, +George William Curtis, or Anna Dickinson, although +John Bright is without peer among his countrymen, as +is Mrs. Besant among the women. The women, as a +general rule, are more fluent than the men.</p> +<p>I reached England in time to attend the great demonstration +in Glasgow, to celebrate the extension of the +municipal franchise to the women of Scotland. It was +a remarkable occasion. St. Andrew's immense hall +was packed with women; a few men were admitted to +the gallery at half a crown apiece. Over five thousand +people were present. When a Scotch audience is thoroughly +roused, nothing can equal the enthusiasm. The +arrival of the speakers on the platform was announced +with the wildest applause; the entire audience rising, +waving their handkerchiefs, and clapping their hands, +and every compliment paid the people of Scotland was +received with similar outbursts. Mrs. McLaren, a +sister of John Bright, presided, and made the opening +speech. I had the honor, on this occasion, of addressing +an audience for the first time in the Old World. +Many others spoke briefly. There were too many +speakers; no one had time to warm up to the point of +eloquence.</p> +<p>Our system of conventions, of two or three days' +<a name="Page_354"></a>duration, with long speeches discussing pointed +and +radical resolutions, is quite unknown in England. +Their meetings consist of one session of a few hours, +into which they crowd all the speakers they can summon. +They have a few tame, printed resolutions, on +which there can be no possible difference of opinion, +with the names of those who are to speak appended. +Each of these is read and a few short speeches are made, +that may or may not have the slightest reference to the +resolutions, which are then passed. The last is usually +one of thanks to some lord or member of the +House of Commons, who may have condescended to +preside at the meeting or do something for the measure +in Parliament. The Queen is referred to tenderly in +most of the speeches, although she has never done anything +to merit the approbation of the advocates of suffrage +for women.</p> +<p>From Glasgow quite a large party of the Brights and +McLarens went to Edinburgh, where the Hon. Duncan +McLaren gave us a warm welcome to Newington +House, under the very shadow of the Salisbury crags. +These and the Pentland Hills are remarkable features +in the landscape as you approach this beautiful city with +its mountains and castles. We passed a few charming +days driving about, visiting old friends, and discussing +the status of woman on both sides of the Atlantic. +Here we met Elizabeth Pease Nichol and Jane and Eliza +Wigham, whom I had not seen since we sat together in +the World's Anti-slavery Convention, in London, in +1840. Yet I knew Mrs. Nichol at once; her strongly +marked face was not readily forgotten.</p> +<p>I went with the family on Sunday to the Friends' +meeting, where a most unusual manifestation for that +<a name="Page_355"></a>decorous sect occurred. I had been told that, if +I felt +inclined, it would be considered quite proper for me to +make some remarks, and just as I was revolving an +opening sentence to a few thoughts I desired to present, +a man arose in a remote part of the house and began, in +a low voice, to give his testimony as to the truth that +was in him. All eyes were turned toward him, when +suddenly a Friend leaned over the back of the seat, seized +his coat tails and jerked him down in a most emphatic +manner. The poor man buried his face in his hands, +and maintained a profound silence. I learned afterward +that he was a bore, and the Friend in the rear thought it +wise to nip him in the bud. This scene put to flight +all intentions of speaking on my part lest I, too, might +get outside the prescribed limits and be suppressed by +force. I dined, that day, with Mrs. Nichol, at Huntly +Lodge, where she has entertained in turn many of our +American reformers. Her walls have echoed to the +voices of Garrison, Rogers, Samuel J. May, Parker +Pillsbury, Henry C. Wright, Douglass, Remond, and +hosts of English philanthropists. Though over eighty +years of age, she was still awake to all questions of the +hour, and generous in her hospitalities as of yore.</p> +<p>Mrs. Margaret Lucas, whose whole soul was in the +temperance movement, escorted me from Edinburgh to +Manchester, to be present at another great demonstration +in the Town Hall, the finest building in that +district. It had just been completed, and, with its ante-room, +dining hall, and various apartments for social +entertainments, was by far the most perfect hall I +had seen in England. There I was entertained by +Mrs. Matilda Roby, who, with her husband, gave me +a most hospitable reception. She invited several +<a name="Page_356"></a>friends to luncheon one day, among others Miss +Lydia +Becker, editor of the <i>Suffrage Journal</i> in that city, and +the Rev. Mr. Steinthal, who had visited this country +and spoken on our platform. The chief topic at the +table was John Stuart Mill, his life, character, writings, +and his position with reference to the political rights +of women. In the evening we went to see Ristori in +'"Queen Elizabeth." Having seen her, many years before, +in America, I was surprised to find her still so +vigorous. And thus, week after week, suffrage meetings, +receptions, dinners, luncheons, and theaters pleasantly +alternated.</p> +<p>The following Sunday we heard in London a grand +sermon from Moncure D. Conway, and had a pleasant +interview with him and Mrs. Conway at the close of +the session. Later we spent a few days at their artistic +home, filled with books, pictures, and mementos +from loving friends. A billiard room, with well-worn +cues, balls, and table—quite a novel adjunct to a +parsonage—may, in a measure, account for his vigorous +sermons. A garden reception to Mr. and Mrs. +Howells gave us an opportunity to see the American +novelist surrounded by his English friends.</p> +<p>Soon after this Mr. Conway asked me to fill his +pulpit. I retired Saturday night, very nervous over my +sermon for the next day, and the feeling steadily increased +until I reached the platform; but once there +my fears were all dissipated, and I never enjoyed speaking +more than on that occasion, for I had been so long +oppressed with the degradation of woman under canon +law and church discipline, that I had a sense of relief +in pouring out my indignation. My theme was, "What +has Christianity done for Woman?" and by the +<a name="Page_357"></a>facts of history I showed clearly that to no +form of religion +was woman indebted for one impulse of freedom, +as all alike have taught her inferiority and subjection. +No lofty virtues can emanate from such a +condition. Whatever heights of dignity and purity +women have individually attained can in no way be attributed +to the dogmas of their religion.</p> +<p>With my son Theodore, always deeply interested in +my friends and public work, I called, during my stay in +London, on Mrs. Grey, Miss Jessie Boucherett, and +Dr. Hoggan, who had written essays for "The Woman +Question in Europe"; on our American minister (Mr. +Lowell), Mr. and Mrs. George W. Smalley, and many +other notable men and women. By appointment we +had an hour with the Hon. John Bright, at his residence +on Piccadilly. As his photograph, with his fame, had +reached America, his fine face and head, as well as his +political opinions, were quite familiar to us. He received +us with great cordiality, and manifested a clear +knowledge and deep interest in regard to all American +affairs. Free trade and woman suffrage formed the +basis of our conversation; the literature of our respective +countries and our great men and women were the +lighter topics of the occasion. He was not sound in +regard to the political rights of women, but it is not +given to any one man to be equally clear on all questions. +He voted for John Stuart Mill's amendment to +the Household Suffrage Bill in 1867, but he said, +"that was a personal favor to a friend, without any +strong convictions as to the merits of what I considered +a purely sentimental measure."</p> +<p>We attended the meeting called to rejoice over the +passage of the Married Women's Property Bill, which +<a name="Page_358"></a>gave to the women of England, in 1882, what we +had +enjoyed in many States in this country since 1848. +Mrs. Jacob Bright, Mrs. Scatcherd, Mrs. Elmy, and +several members of Parliament made short speeches of +congratulation to those who had been instrumental in +carrying the measure. It was generally conceded that +to the tact and persistence of Mrs. Jacob Bright, more +than to any other person, belonged the credit of that +achievement. Jacob Bright was at the time a member +of Parliament, and fully in sympathy with the bill; and, +while Mrs. Bright exerted all her social influence to +make it popular with the members, her husband, thoroughly +versed in Parliamentary tactics, availed himself +of every technicality to push the bill through the +House of Commons. Mrs. Bright's chief object in +securing this bill, aside from establishing the right that +every human being has to his own property, was to +place married women on an even plane with widows and +spinsters, thereby making them qualified voters.</p> +<p>The next day we went out to Barn Elms to visit Mr. +and Mrs. Charles McLaren. He was a member of Parliament, +a Quaker by birth and education, and had +sustained, to his uttermost ability, the suffrage movement. +His charming wife, the daughter of Mrs. +Pochin, is worthy of the noble mother who was +among the earliest leaders on that question—speaking +and writing with ability, on all phases of the +subject. Barn Elms is a grand old estate, a few +miles out of London. It was the dairy farm of +Queen Elizabeth, and was presented by her to Sir +Francis Walsingham. Since then it has been inhabited +by many persons of note. It has existed as an +estate since the time of the early Saxon kings, and the +<a name="Page_359"></a>record of the sale of Barn Elms in the time of +King +Athelstane is still extant. What with its well-kept +lawns, fine old trees, glimpses here and there of the +Thames winding round its borders, and its wealth of +old associations, it is, indeed, a charming spot. Our +memory of those days will not go back to Saxon kings, +but remain with the liberal host and hostess, the beautiful +children, and the many charming acquaintances +we met at that fireside. I doubt whether any of the +ancient lords and ladies who dispensed their hospitalities +under that roof did in any way surpass the present +occupants. Mrs. McLaren, interested in all the reforms +of the day, is radical in her ideas, a brilliant talker, and, +for one so young, remarkably well informed on all political +questions.</p> +<p>It was at Barn Elms I met, for the first time, Mrs. +Fannie Hertz, to whom I was indebted for many pleasant +acquaintances afterward. She is said to know more +distinguished literary people than any other woman in +London. I saw her, too, several times in her home; +meeting, at her Sunday-afternoon receptions, many persons +I was desirous to know. On one occasion I found +George Jacob Holyoake there, surrounded by several +young ladies, all stoutly defending the Nihilists in +Russia, and their right to plot their way to freedom. +They counted a dynasty of Czars as nothing in the balance +with the liberties of a whole people. As I joined +the circle, Mr. Holyoake called my attention to the fact +that he was the only one in favor of peaceful measures. +"Now," said he, "I have often heard it said on your +platform that the feminine element in politics would +bring about perpetual peace in government, and here +all these ladies are advocating: the worst forms of vio<a + name="Page_360"></a>lence +in the name of liberty." "Ah!" said I, "lay on +their shoulders the responsibility of governing, and they +would soon become as mild and conservative as you +seem to be." He then gave us his views on co-operation, +the only remedy for many existing evils, which he +thought would be the next step toward a higher +civilization.</p> +<p>There, too, I met some Positivists, who, though +liberal on religious questions, were very narrow as +to the sphere of woman. The difference in sex, +which is the very reason why men and women should +be associated in all forms of activity, is to them +the strongest reason why they should be separated. +Mrs. Hertz belongs to the Harrison school of Positivists. +I went with her to one of Mrs. Orr's receptions, +where we met Robert Browning, a fine-looking +man of seventy years, with white hair and mustache. +He was frank, easy, playful, and brilliant in +conversation. Mrs. Orr seemed to be taking a very +pessimistic view of our present sphere of action, which +Mr. Browning, with poetic coloring, was trying to paint +more hopefully.</p> +<p>The next day I dined with Margaret Bright Lucas, +in company with John P. Thomasson, member of +Parliament, and his wife, and, afterward, we went +to the House of Commons and had the good fortune +to hear Gladstone, Parnell, and Sir Charles Dilke. +Seeing Bradlaugh seated outside of the charmed circle, +I sent my card to him, and, in the corridor, we had a +few moments' conversation. I asked him if he thought +he would eventually get his seat. He replied, "Most +assuredly I will. I shall open the next campaign with +such an agitation as will rouse our politicians to some +<a name="Page_361"></a>consideration of the changes gradually coming +over the +face of things in this country."</p> +<p>The place assigned ladies in the House of Commons +is really a disgrace to a country ruled by a queen. This +dark perch is the highest gallery, immediately over the +speaker's desk and government seats, behind a fine wire +netting, so that it is quite impossible to see or hear +anything. The sixteen persons who can crowd into the +front row, by standing with their noses partly through +the open network, can have the satisfaction of seeing +the cranial arch of their rulers and hearing an occasional +paean to liberty, or an Irish growl at the lack of it. I +was told that this network was to prevent the members +on the floor from being disturbed by the beauty of the +women. On hearing this I remarked that I was devoutly +thankful that our American men were not so +easily disturbed, and that the beauty of our women was +not of so dangerous a type. I could but contrast +our spacious galleries in that magnificent Capitol at +Washington, as well as in our grand State Capitols, +where hundreds of women can sit at their ease and see +and hear their rulers, with these dark, dingy buildings. +My son, who had a seat on the floor just opposite the +ladies' gallery, said he could compare our appearance +to nothing but birds in a cage. He could not distinguish +an outline of anybody. All he could see was the +moving of feathers and furs or some bright ribbon or +flower.</p> +<p>In the libraries, the courts, and the House of Lords, +I found many suggestive subjects of thought. It was +interesting to find, on the frescoed walls, many historical +scenes in which women had taken a prominent part. +Among others there was Jane Lane assisting Charles +<a name="Page_362"></a>II. to escape, and Alice Lisle concealing the +fugitives +after the battle of Sedgemoor. Six wives of Henry +VIII. stood forth, a solemn pageant when one recalled +their sad fate. Alas! whether for good or ill, women +must ever fill a large space in the tragedies of the +world.</p> +<p>I passed a few pleasant hours in the house where +Macaulay spent his last years. The once spacious +library and the large bow-window, looking out on a +beautiful lawn, where he sat, from day to day, writing +his glowing periods, possessed a peculiar charm for me, +as the surroundings of genius always do. I thought, +as I stood there, how often he had unconsciously gazed +on each object in searching for words rich enough to +gild his ideas. The house was owned and occupied by +Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Winckworth. It was at one of +their sociable Sunday teas that many pleasant memories +of the great historian were revived.</p> +<p>One of the most remarkable and genial women I met +was Miss Frances Power Cobbe. She called one afternoon, +and sipped with me the five o'clock tea, a uniform +practice in England. She was of medium height, stout, +rosy, and vigorous-looking, with a large, well-shaped +head, a strong, happy face, and gifted with rare powers +of conversation. I felt very strongly attracted to her. +She was frank and cordial, and pronounced in all her +views. She gave us an account of her efforts to rescue +unhappy cats and dogs from the hands of the vivisectionists. +We saw her, too, in her home, and in her +office in Victoria Street. The perfect order in which +her books and papers were arranged, and the exquisite +neatness of the apartments, were refreshing to behold.</p> +<p>My daughter, having decided opinions of her own, +<a name="Page_363"></a>was soon at loggerheads with Miss Cobbe on the +question +of vivisection. After we had examined several +German and French books, with illustrations showing +the horrible cruelty inflicted on cats and dogs, she enlarged +on the hypocrisy and wickedness of these scientists, +and, turning to my daughter, said: "Would you +shake hands with one of these vivisectionists? Yes," +said Harriot, "I should be proud to shake hands with +Virchow, the great German scientist, for his kindness +to a young American girl. She applied to several professors +to be admitted to their classes, but all refused +except Virchow; he readily assented, and requested his +students to treat her with becoming courtesy. 'If any +of you behave otherwise,' said he, 'I shall feel myself +personally insulted.' She entered his classes and pursued +her studies, unmolested and with great success. +Now, would you, Miss Cobbe, refuse to shake hands +with any of your statesmen, scientists, clergymen, lawyers, +or physicians who treat women with constant indignities +and insult?" "Oh, no!" said Miss Cobbe. +"Then," said Harriot, "you estimate the physical suffering +of cats and dogs as of more consequence than the +humiliation of human beings. The man who tortures +a cat for a scientific purpose is not as low in the scale +of beings, in my judgment, as one who sacrifices his own +daughter to some cruel custom."</p> +<p>As we were, just then, reading Froude's "Life of +Carlyle," we drove by the house where Carlyle had lived, +and paused a moment at the door where poor Jennie +went in and out so often with a heavy heart. The book +gives a painful record of a great soul struggling with +poverty and disappointment; the hope of success, as +an author, so long deferred and never realized. His +<a name="Page_364"></a>foolish pride of independence and headship, and +his utter +indifference to his domestic duties and the comfort of +his wife made the picture still darker. Poor Jennie! +fitted to shine in any circle, yet doomed, all her married +life, to domestic drudgery, instead of associations +with the great man for whose literary companionship +she had sacrificed everything.</p> +<p>At one of Miss Biggs' receptions Miss Anthony and +I met Mr. Stansfeld, M.P., who had labored faithfully +for the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Act, and had +in a measure been successful. We had the honor of an +interview with Lord Shaftesbury, at one of his crowded +"at homes," and found him a little uncertain as to the +wisdom of allowing married women to vote, for fear of +disturbing the peace of the family. I have often wondered +if men see, in this objection, what a fatal admission +they make as to their love of domination.</p> +<p>Miss Anthony was present at the great Liberal Conference, +at Leeds, on October 17, 1882, to which Mrs. +Helen Bright Clark, Miss Jane Cobden, Mrs. Tanner, +Mrs. Scatcherd, and several other ladies were duly +elected delegates from their respective Liberal Leagues. +Mrs. Clark and Miss Cobden, daughters of the +great corn-law reformers, spoke eloquently in favor +of the resolution to extend Parliamentary suffrage +to women, which was presented by Walter McLaren +of Bradford. As Mrs. Clark made her impassioned +appeal for the recognition of woman's political +equality in the next bill for extension of suffrage, +that immense gathering of sixteen hundred delegates +was hushed into profound silence. For a +daughter to speak thus in that great representative convention, +in opposition to her loved and honored father, +<a name="Page_365"></a>the acknowledged leader of that party, was an +act of +heroism and fidelity to her own highest convictions +almost without a parallel in English history, and the +effect on the audience was as thrilling as it was surprising. +The resolution was passed by a large majority. +At the reception given to John Bright that evening, +as Mrs. Clark approached the dais on which her +noble father stood shaking the hands of passing friends, +she remarked to her husband, "I wonder if father has +heard of my speech this morning, and if he will forgive +me for thus publicly differing with him?" The query +was soon answered. As he caught the first glimpse of +his daughter he stepped down, and, pressing her hand +affectionately, kissed her on either cheek.</p> +<p>The next evening the great Quaker statesman was +heard by the admiring thousands who could crowd into +Victoria Hall, while thousands, equally desirous to hear, +failed to get tickets of admission. It was a magnificent +sight, and altogether a most impressive gathering of +the people. Miss Anthony, with her friends, sat in the +gallery opposite the great platform, where they had a +fine view of the whole audience. When John Bright, +escorted by Sir Wilfrid Lawson, took his seat, the immense +crowd rose, waving hats and handkerchiefs, and, +with the wildest enthusiasm, gave cheer after cheer in +honor of the great leader. Sir Wilfrid Lawson, in his +introductory remarks, facetiously alluded to the resolution +adopted by the Conference as somewhat in advance +of the ideas of the speaker of the evening. The +house broke into roars of laughter, while the Father of +Liberalism, perfectly convulsed, joined in the general +merriment.</p> +<p>But when at length his time to speak had come, and +<a name="Page_366"></a>Mr. Bright went over the many steps of progress +that +had been taken by the Liberal party, he cunningly +dodged the question of the emancipation of the +women of England. He skipped round the agitation +of 1867, and John Stuart Mill's amendment presented +at that time in the House of Commons; the extension +of the municipal suffrage in 1869; the participation of +women in the establishment of national schools under +the law of 1870, both as voters and members of school +boards; the Married Women's Property Bill of 1882; +the large and increasing vote for the extension of Parliamentary +suffrage in the House of Commons, and the +adoption of the resolution by that great Conference the +day before. All these successive steps toward woman's +emancipation he carefully remembered to forget.</p> +<p>While in London Miss Anthony and I attended several +enthusiastic reform meetings. We heard Bradlaugh +address his constituency on that memorable day +at Trafalgar Square, at the opening of Parliament, when +violence was anticipated and the Parliament Houses +were surrounded by immense crowds, with the military +and police in large numbers, to maintain order. We +heard Michael Davitt and Miss Helen Taylor at a great +meeting in Exeter Hall; the former on home rule for +Ireland, and the latter on the nationalization of land. +The facts and figures given in these two lectures, as to +the abject poverty of the people and the cruel system +by which every inch of land had been grabbed by their +oppressors, were indeed appalling. A few days before +sailing we made our last visit to Ernestine L. Rose, and +found our noble coadjutor, though in delicate health, +pleasantly situated in the heart of London, as deeply +interested as ever in the struggles of the hour.</p> +<p><a name="Page_367"></a>A great discomfort, in all English homes, is +the inadequate +system of heating. A moderate fire in the grate +is the only mode of heating, and they seem quite oblivious +to the danger of throwing a door open into a cold +hall at one's back, while the servants pass in and out +with the various courses at dinner. As we Americans +were sorely tried, under such circumstances, it was decided, +in the home of my son-in-law, Mr. Blatch, to +have a hall-stove, which, after a prolonged search, was +found in London and duly installed as a presiding deity +to defy the dampness that pervades all those ivy-covered +habitations, as well as the neuralgia that +wrings their possessors. What a blessing it proved, +more than any one thing making the old English house +seem like an American home! The delightful summer +heat we, in America, enjoy in the coldest seasons, is +quite unknown to our Saxon cousins. Although many +came to see our stove in full working order, yet we +could not persuade them to adopt the American system +of heating the whole house at an even temperature. +They cling to the customs of their fathers with an obstinacy +that is incomprehensible to us, who are always +ready to try experiments. Americans complain bitterly +of the same freezing experiences in France and +Germany, and, in turn, foreigners all criticise our overheated +houses and places of amusement.</p> +<p>While attending a meeting in Birmingham I stayed +with a relative of Joseph Sturge, whose home I had +visited forty years before. The meeting was called to +discuss the degradation of women under the Contagious +Diseases Act. Led by Josephine Butler, the +women of England were deeply stirred on the question +of its repeal and have since secured it. I heard Mrs. +<a name="Page_368"></a>Butler speak in many of her society meetings as +well +as on other occasions. Her style was not unlike that +one hears in Methodist camp meetings from the best +cultivated of that sect; her power lies in her deeply religious +enthusiasm. In London we met Emily Faithful, +who had just returned from a lecturing tour in the +United States, and were much amused with her experiences. +Having taken prolonged trips over the whole +country, from Maine to Texas, for many successive +years, Miss Anthony and I could easily add the superlative +to all her narrations.</p> +<p>It was a pleasant surprise to meet the large number +of Americans usually at the receptions of Mrs. Peter +Taylor. Graceful and beautiful, in full dress, standing +beside her husband, who evidently idolized her, Mrs. +Taylor appeared quite as refined in her drawing room as +if she had never been exposed to the public gaze while +presiding over a suffrage convention. Mrs. Taylor is +called the mother of the suffrage movement. The reform +has not been carried on in all respects to her taste, +nor on what she considers the basis of high principle. +Neither she nor Mrs. Jacob Bright has ever been satisfied +with the bill asking the rights of suffrage for +"widows and spinsters" only. To have asked this +right "for all women duly qualified," as but few married +women are qualified through possessing property in +their own right, would have been substantially the +same, without making any invidious distinctions. Mrs. +Taylor and Mrs. Bright felt that, as married women +were the greatest sufferers under the law, they should +be the first rather than the last to be enfranchised. The +others, led by Miss Becker, claimed that it was good +policy to make the demand for "spinsters and widows," +<a name="Page_369"></a>and thus exclude the "family unit" and "man's +headship" +from the discussion; and yet these were the very +points on which the objections were invariably based. +They claimed that, if "spinsters and widows" were enfranchised, +they would be an added power to secure to +married women their rights. But the history of the +past gives us no such assurance. It is not certain that +women would be more just than men, and a small privileged +class of aristocrats have long governed their fellow-countrymen. +The fact that the spinsters in the +movement advocated such a bill, shows that they were +not to be trusted in extending it. John Stuart Mill, +too, was always opposed to the exclusion of married +women in the demand for suffrage.</p> +<p>My sense of justice was severely tried by all I heard +of the persecutions of Mrs. Besant and Mr. Bradlaugh +for their publications on the right and duty of parents +to limit population. Who can contemplate the sad +condition of multitudes of young children in the Old +World whose fate is to be brought up in ignorance and +vice—a swarming, seething mass which nobody owns—without +seeing the need of free discussion of the philosophical +principles that underlie these tangled social +problems? The trials of Foote and Ramsey, too, for +blasphemy, seemed unworthy a great nation in the +nineteenth century. Think of well-educated men of +good moral standing thrown into prison in solitary confinement, +for speaking lightly of the Hebrew idea of +Jehovah and the New Testament account of the birth +of Jesus! Our Protestant clergy never hesitate to +make the dogmas and superstitions of the Catholic +Church seem as absurd as possible, and why should not +those who imagine they have outgrown Protestant +<a name="Page_370"></a>superstitions make them equally ridiculous? +Whatever +is true can stand investigation and ridicule.</p> +<p>In the last of April, when the wildflowers were in their +glory, Mrs. Mellen and her lovely daughter, Daisy, came +down to our home at Basingstoke to enjoy its beauty. +As Mrs. Mellen had known Charles Kingsley and entertained +him at her residence in Colorado, she felt a +desire to see his former home. Accordingly, one bright +morning, Mr. Blatch drove us to Eversley, through +Strathfieldsaye, the park of the Duke of Wellington. +This magnificent place was given to him by the English +government after the battle of Waterloo. A lofty +statue of the duke, that can be seen for miles around, +stands at one entrance. A drive of a few miles further +brought us to the parish church of Canon Kingsley, +where he preached many years, and where all that is +mortal of him now lies buried. We wandered through +the old church, among the moss-covered tombstones, +and into the once happy home, now silent and deserted—his +loved ones being scattered in different quarters of +the globe. Standing near the last resting place of the +author of "Hypatia," his warning words for women, in +a letter to John Stuart Mill, seemed like a voice from +heaven saying, with new inspiration and power, "This +will never be a good world for women until the last remnant +of the canon law is civilized off the face of the +earth."</p> +<p>We heard Mr. Fawcett speak to his Hackney constituents +at one of his campaign meetings. In the +course of his remarks he mentioned with evident favor, +as one of the coming measures, the disestablishment of +the Church, and was greeted with loud applause. Soon +after he spoke of woman suffrage as another question +<a name="Page_371"></a>demanding consideration, but this was received +with +laughter and jeers, although the platform was crowded +with advocates of the measure, among whom were the +wife of the speaker and her sister, Dr. Garrett Anderson. +The audience were evidently in favor of releasing themselves +from being taxed to support the Church, forgetting +that women were taxed not only to support a +Church but also a State in the management of neither +of which they had a voice. Mr. Fawcett was not an +orator, but a simple, straightforward speaker. He +made one gesture, striking his right clenched fist +into the palm of his left hand at the close of all his +strongest assertions, and, although more liberal +than his party, he was a great favorite with his constituents.</p> +<p>One pleasant trip I made in England was to Bristol, +to visit the Misses Priestman and Mrs. Tanner, sisters-in-law +of John Bright. I had stayed at their father's +house forty years before, so we felt like old friends. I +found them all liberal women, and we enjoyed a few +days together, talking over our mutual struggles, and +admiring the beautiful scenery for which that part of the +country is celebrated. The women of England were +just then organizing political clubs, and I was invited +to speak before many of them. There is an +earnestness of purpose among English women that +is very encouraging under the prolonged disappointments +reformers inevitably suffer. And the order +of English homes, too, among the wealthy classes, +is very enjoyable. All go on from year to year with the +same servants, the same surroundings, no changes, no +moving, no building even; in delightful contrast with +our periodical upheavals, always uncertain where we +<a name="Page_372"></a>shall go next, or how long our main dependents +will +stand by us.</p> +<p>From Bristol I went to Greenbank to visit Mrs. +Helen Bright Clark. One evening her parlors were +crowded and I was asked to give an account of the +suffrage movement in America. Some clergymen +questioned me in regard to the Bible position of +woman, whereupon I gave quite an exposition of its +general principles in favor of liberty and equality. As +two distinct lines of argument can be woven out of +those pages on any subject, on this occasion I selected +all the most favorable texts for justice to woman, and +closed by stating the limits of its authority. Mrs. +Clark, though thoroughly in sympathy with the views +I had expressed, feared lest my very liberal utterances +might have shocked some of the strictest of the laymen +and clergy. "Well," said I, "if we who do see +the absurdities of the old superstitions never unveil +them to others, how is the world to make any progress +in the theologies? I am in the sunset of life, and I feel +it to be my special mission to tell people what they are +not prepared to hear, instead of echoing worn-out opinions." +The result showed the wisdom of my speaking +out of my own soul. To the surprise of Mrs. Clark, the +Primitive Methodist clergyman called on Sunday morning +to invite me to occupy his pulpit in the afternoon +and present the same line of thought I had the previous +evening. I accepted his invitation. He led the services, +and I took my text from Genesis i. 27, 28, showing +that man and woman were a simultaneous creation, endowed, +in the beginning, with equal power.</p> +<p>Returning to London, I accepted an invitation to take +tea one afternoon with Mrs. Jacob Bright, who, in +<a name="Page_373"></a>earnest conversation, had helped us each to a +cup +of tea, and was turning to help us to something more, +when over went table and all—tea, bread and butter, +cake, strawberries and cream, silver, china, in one conglomerate +mass. Silence reigned. No one started; no +one said "Oh!" Mrs. Bright went on with what she +was saying as if nothing unusual had occurred, rang the +bell, and, when the servant appeared, pointing to the +débris, she said, "Charles, remove this." I was filled +with admiration at her coolness, and devoutly thankful +that we Americans maintained an equally dignified +silence.</p> +<p>At a grand reception, given in our honor by the +National Central Committee, in Princess' Hall, Jacob +Bright, M.P., presided and made an admirable opening +speech, followed by his sister, Mrs. McLaren, +with a highly complimentary address of welcome. By +particular request Miss Anthony explained the industrial, +legal, and political status of American women, +while I set forth their educational, social, and religious +condition. John P. Thomasson, M.P., made the closing +address, expressing his satisfaction with our addresses +and the progress made in both countries.</p> +<p>Mrs. Thomasson, daughter of Mrs. Lucas, gave several +parties, receptions, and dinners,—some for ladies +only,—where an abundant opportunity was offered for +a critical analysis of the idiosyncrasies of the superior +sex, especially in their dealings with women. The patience +of even such heroic souls as Lydia Becker and +Caroline Biggs was almost exhausted with the tergiversations +of Members of the House of Commons. +Alas for the many fair promises broken, the hopes deferred, +the votes fully relied on and counted, all missing +<a name="Page_374"></a>in the hour of action! One crack of Mr. +Gladstone's +whip put a hundred Liberal members to flight—members +whom these noble women had spent years in educating. +I never visited the House of Commons that I +did not see Miss Becker and Miss Biggs trying to elucidate +the fundamental principles of just government +to some of the legislators. Verily their divine faith and +patience merited more worthy action on the part of +their alleged representatives!</p> +<p>Miss Henrietta Müller gave a farewell reception to +Miss Anthony and me on the eve of our departure for +America, when we had the opportunity of meeting once +more most of the pleasant acquaintances we had made +in London. Although it was announced for the afternoon, +we did, in fact, receive all day, as many could not +come at the hour appointed. Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell +took breakfast with us; Mrs. Fawcett, Mrs. Saville, and +Miss Lord were with us at luncheon; Harriet Hosmer +and Olive Logan soon after; Mrs. Peter Taylor later, +and from three to six o'clock the parlors were crowded.</p> +<p>Returning from London I passed my birthday, November +12, 1883, in Basingstoke. It was a sad day for +us all, knowing that it was the last day with my loved +ones before my departure for America. When I imprinted +the farewell kiss on the soft cheek of +my little granddaughter Nora in the cradle, she in the +dawn and I in the sunset of life, I realized how widely +the broad ocean would separate us. Miss Anthony, +met me at Alderly Edge, where we spent a few days +with Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Bright. There we found +their noble sisters, Mrs. McLaren and Mrs. Lucas, +young Walter McLaren and his lovely bride, Eva +Müller, whom we had heard several times on the +<a name="Page_375"></a>suffrage platform. We rallied her on the step +she +had lately taken, notwithstanding her sister's able paper +on the blessedness of a single life. While there, we +visited Dean Stanley's birthplace, but on his death the +light and joy went out. The old church whose walls had +once echoed to his voice, and the house where he had +spent so many useful years, seemed sad and deserted. +But the day was bright and warm, the scenery beautiful, +cows and sheep were still grazing in the meadows, +and the grass was as green as in June. This is England's +chief charm,—it is forever green,—perhaps in +compensation for the many cloudy days.</p> +<p>As our good friends Mrs. McLaren and Mrs. Lucas +had determined to see us safely on board the Servia, +they escorted us to Liverpool, where we met Mrs. Margaret +Parker and Mrs. Scatcherd. Another reception +was given us at the residence of Dr. Ewing Whittle. +Several short speeches were made, and all present cheered +the parting guests with words of hope and encouragement +for the good cause. Here the wisdom of forming +an international association was first considered. The +proposition met with such favor from those present that +a committee was appointed to correspond with the +friends in different nations. Miss Anthony and I +were placed on the committee, and while this project +has not yet been fully carried out, the idea of the +intellectual co-operation of women to secure equal +rights and opportunities for their sex was the basis of +the International Council of Women, which was held +under the auspices of the National Woman Suffrage +Association in Washington, D. C, in March, 1888.</p> +<p>On the Atlantic for ten days we had many opportunities +to review all we had seen and heard. Sitting on +<a name="Page_376"></a>deck, hour after hour, how often I queried with +myself +as to the significance of the boon for which we were so +earnestly struggling. In asking for a voice in the government +under which we live, have we been pursuing a +shadow for fifty years? In seeking political power, are +we abdicating that social throne where they tell us our +influence is unbounded? No, no! the right of suffrage +is no shadow, but a substantial entity that the citizen +can seize and hold for his own protection and his country's +welfare. A direct power over one's own person +and property, an individual opinion to be counted, on +all questions of public interest, are better than indirect +influence, be that ever so far reaching.</p> +<p>Though influence, like the pure white light, is all-pervading, +yet it is ofttimes obscured with passing clouds +and nights of darkness. Like the sun's rays, it may be +healthy, genial, inspiring, though sometimes too direct +for comfort, too oblique for warmth, too scattered for +any purpose. But as the prism divides the rays, revealing +the brilliant colors of the light, so does individual +sovereignty reveal the beauty of representative +government, and as the burning-glass shows the power +of concentrating the rays, so does the combined power +of the multitude reveal the beauty of united effort to +carry a grand measure.</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a> +<h2><a name="Page_377"></a>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2> +<h2>WOMAN AND THEOLOGY.</h2> +<br> +<p>Returning from Europe in the autumn of 1883, after +visiting a large circle of relatives and friends, I spent +six weeks with my cousin, Elizabeth Smith Miller, at +her home at Geneva, on Seneca Lake.</p> +<p>Through Miss Frances Lord, a woman of rare culture +and research, my daughter and I had become interested +in the school of theosophy, and read "Isis +Unveiled," by Madame Blavatsky, Sinnett's works on +the "Occult World," and "The Perfect Way," by Anna +Kingsford. Full of these ideas, I soon interested my +cousins in the subject, and we resolved to explore, as +far as possible, some of these Eastern mysteries, of which +we had heard so much. We looked in all directions to +find some pilot to start us on the right course. We +heard that Gerald Massey was in New York city, lecturing +on "The Devil," "Ghosts," and "Evil Spirits" +generally, so we invited him to visit us and give a course +of lectures in Geneva. But, unfortunately, he was ill, +and could not open new fields of thought to us at that +time, though we were very desirous to get a glimpse +into the unknown world, and hold converse with the +immortals. As I soon left Geneva with my daughter, +Mrs. Stanton Lawrence, our occult studies were, for a +time, abandoned.</p> +<p>My daughter and I often talked of writing a story, +<a name="Page_378"></a>she describing the characters and their +environments +and I attending to the philosophy and soliloquies. +As I had no special duties in prospect, we decided +that this was the time to make our experiment. +Accordingly we hastened to the family homestead at +Johnstown, New York, where we could be entirely +alone. Friends on all sides wondered what had brought +us there in the depth of the winter. But we kept our +secret, and set ourselves to work with diligence, and +after three months our story was finished to our entire +satisfaction. We felt sure that everyone who read it +would be deeply interested and that we should readily +find a publisher. We thought of "Our Romance" the +first thing in the morning and talked of it the last thing +at night. But alas! friendly critics who read our story +pointed out its defects, and in due time we reached their +conclusions, and the unpublished manuscript now rests +in a pigeonhole of my desk. We had not many days +to mourn our disappointment, as Madge was summoned +to her Western home, and Miss Anthony arrived armed +and equipped with bushels of documents for vol. III. of +"The History of Woman Suffrage." The summer and +autumn of 1884 Miss Anthony and I passed at Johnstown, +working diligently on the History, indulging only +in an occasional drive, a stroll round the town in the +evening, or a ride in the open street cars.</p> +<p>Mrs. Devereux Blake was holding a series of conventions, +at this time, through the State of New York, and +we urged her to expend some of her missionary efforts +in my native town, which she did with good results. As +the school election was near at hand Miss Anthony and +I had several preliminary meetings to arouse the women +to their duty as voters, and to the necessity of nomi<a name="Page_379"></a>nating +some woman for trustee. When the day for the +election arrived the large upper room of the Academy +was filled with ladies and gentlemen. Some timid souls +who should have been there stayed at home, fearing +there would be a row, but everything was conducted +with decency and in order. The chairman, Mr. Rosa, +welcomed the ladies to their new duties in a very complimentary +manner. Donald McMartin stated the law +as to what persons were eligible to vote in school elections. +Mrs. Horace Smith filled the office of teller on +the occasion with promptness and dignity, and Mrs. +Elizabeth Wallace Yost was elected trustee by a majority +of seven. It is strange that intelligent women, +who are supposed to feel some interest in the question +of education, should be so indifferent to the power they +possess to make our schools all that they should be.</p> +<p>This was the year of the presidential campaign. The +Republicans and Democrats had each held their nominating +conventions, and all classes participated in +the general excitement. There being great dissatisfaction +in the Republican ranks, we issued a manifesto: +"Stand by the Republican Party," not that +we loved Blaine more, but Cleveland less. The latter +was elected, therefore it was evident that our efforts +did not have much influence in turning the tide of +national politics, though the Republican papers gave +a broad circulation to our appeal. Dowden's description +of the poet Shelley's efforts in scattering one of +his suppressed pamphlets, reminded me of ours. He +purchased bushels of empty bottles, in which he placed +his pamphlets; having corked them up tight, he threw +the bottles into the sea at various fashionable watering +places, hoping they would wash ashore. Walking the +<a name="Page_380"></a>streets of London in the evening he would slip +his pamphlets +into the hoods of old ladies' cloaks, throw them +in shop doors, and leave them in cabs and omnibuses. +We scattered ours in the cars, inclosed them in every +letter we wrote or newspaper we sent through the +country.</p> +<p>The night before election Mr. Stanton and Professor +Horace Smith spoke in the Johnstown courthouse, +and took rather pessimistic views of the future +of the Republic should James G. Blaine be defeated. +Cleveland was elected, and we still live as a nation, and +are able to digest the thousands of foreign immigrants +daily landing at our shores. The night of the election +a large party of us sat up until two o'clock to hear the +news. Mr. Stanton had long been one of the editorial +writers on the New York Sun, and they sent him telegrams +from that office until a late hour. However, the +election was so close that we were kept in suspense +several days, before it was definitely decided.</p> +<p>Miss Anthony left in December, 1884, for Washington, +and I went to work on an article for the North +American Review, entitled, "What has Christianity +done for Women?" I took the ground that woman was +not indebted to any form of religion for the liberty she +now enjoys, but that, on the contrary, the religious +element in her nature had always been perverted for +her complete subjection. Bishop Spaulding, in the +same issue of the Review, took the opposite ground, but +I did not feel that he answered my points.</p> +<p>In January, 1885, my niece Mrs. Baldwin and I went +to Washington to attend the Annual Convention of the +National Woman Suffrage Association. It was held in +the Unitarian church on the 20th, 21st, and 22d days +<a name="Page_381"></a>of that month, and went off with great success, +as did +the usual reception given by Mrs. Spofford at the +Riggs House. This dear friend, one of our most +ardent coadjutors, always made the annual convention +a time for many social enjoyments. The main feature +in this convention was the attempt to pass the following +resolutions:</p> +<div class="blkquot"> +<p>"Whereas, The dogmas incorporated in religious +creeds derived from Judaism, teaching that woman was +an after-thought in the creation, her sex a misfortune, +marriage a condition of subordination, and maternity a +curse, are contrary to the law of God (as revealed in +nature), and to the precepts of Christ, and,</p> +<p>"Whereas, These dogmas are an insidious poison, +sapping the vitality of our civilization, blighting +woman, and, through her, paralyzing humanity; therefore +be it</p> +<p>"<i>Resolved</i>, That we call on the Christian ministry, +as leaders of thought, to teach and enforce the fundamental +idea of creation, that man was made in the image +of God, male and female, and given equal rights over +the earth, but none over each other. And, furthermore, +we ask their recognition of the scriptural declaration +that, in the Christian religion, there is neither +male nor female, bond nor free, but all are one in Christ +Jesus."</p> +</div> +<p>As chairman of the committee I presented a series of +resolutions, impeaching the Christian theology—as well +as all other forms of religion, for their degrading teachings +in regard to woman—which the majority of the committee +thought too strong and pointed, and, after much +<a name="Page_382"></a>deliberation, they substituted the above, +handing over +to the Jews what I had laid at the door of the Christians. +They thought they had so sugar-coated my ideas that +the resolutions would pass without discussion. But +some Jews in the convention promptly repudiated this +impression of their faith and precipitated the very discussion +I desired, but which our more politic friends +would fain have avoided.</p> +<p>From the time of the decade meeting in Rochester, in +1878, Matilda Joslyn Gage, Edward M. Davis, and I had +sedulously labored to rouse women to a realization of +their degraded position in the Church, and presented +resolutions at every annual convention for that purpose. +But they were either suppressed or so amended as to be +meaningless. The resolutions of the annual convention +of 1885, tame as they are, got into print and +roused the ire of the clergy, and upon the following +Sunday, Dr. Patton of Howard University preached a +sermon on "Woman and Skepticism," in which he unequivocally +took the ground that freedom for woman +led to skepticism and immorality. He illustrated his +position by pointing to Hypatia, Mary Wollstonecraft, +Frances Wright, George Eliot, Harriet Martineau, +Mme. Roland, Frances Power Cobbe, and Victoria +Woodhull. He made a grave mistake in the last names +mentioned, as Mrs. Woodhull was a devout believer in +the Christian religion, and surely anyone conversant +with Miss Cobbe's writings would never accuse her of +skepticism. His sermon was received with intense indignation, +even by the women of his own congregation. +When he found what a whirlwind he had started, he +tried to shift his position and explain away much that +he had said. We asked him to let us have the sermon +<a name="Page_383"></a>for publication, that we might not do him +injustice. +But as he contradicted himself flatly in trying to restate +his discourse, and refused to let us see his sermon, those +who heard him were disgusted with his sophistry and +tergiversation.</p> +<p>However, our labors in this direction are having an +effect. Women are now making their attacks on the +Church all along the line. They are demanding their +right to be ordained as ministers, elders, deacons, and +to be received as delegates in all the ecclesiastical convocations. +At last they ask of the Church just what +they have asked of the State for the last half century—perfect +equality—and the clergy, as a body, are quite +as hostile to their demands as the statesmen.</p> +<p>On my way back to Johnstown I spent ten days at +Troy, where I preached in the Unitarian church on Sunday +evening. During this visit we had two hearings +in the Capitol at Albany—one in the Senate Chamber +and one in the Assembly, before the Committee on +Grievances. On both occasions Mrs. Mary Seymour +Howell, Mrs. Devereux Blake, Mrs. Caroline Gilkey +Rogers, and I addressed the Committee. Being open +to the public, the chamber was crowded. It was +nearly forty years since I had made my first appeal in +the old Capitol at Albany. My reflections were sad +and discouraging, as I sat there and listened to the +speakers and remembered how long we had made our +appeals at that bar, from year to year, in vain. The +members of the committee presented the same calm +aspect as their predecessors, as if to say, "Be patient, +dear sisters, eternity is before us; this is simply a +question of time. What may not come in your day, +future generations will surely possess." It is always +<a name="Page_384"></a>pleasant to know that our descendants are to +enjoy life, +liberty, and happiness; but, when one is gasping for one +breath of freedom, this reflection is not satisfying.</p> +<p>Returning to my native hills, I found the Lenten +season had fairly set in, which I always dreaded on account +of the solemn, tolling bell, the Episcopal +church being just opposite our residence. On Sunday +we had the bells of six churches all going at the same +time. It is strange how long customs continue after +the original object has ceased to exist. At an early +day, when the country was sparsely settled and the people +lived at great distances, bells were useful to call them +together when there was to be a church service. But +now, when the churches are always open on Sunday, and +every congregation knows the hour of services and all +have clocks, bells are not only useless, but they are a +terrible nuisance to invalids and nervous people. If I +am ever so fortunate as to be elected a member of a +town council, my first efforts will be toward the suppression +of bells.</p> +<p>To encourage one of my sex in the trying profession +of book agent, I purchased, about this time, Dr. Lord's +"Beacon Lights of History," and read the last volume +devoted to women, Pagan and Christian, saints and +sinners. It is very amusing to see the author's intellectual +wriggling and twisting to show that no one can +be good or happy without believing in the Christian religion. +In describing great women who are not Christians, +he attributes all their follies and miseries to that +fact. In describing Pagan women, possessed of great +virtues, he attributes all their virtues to Nature's gifts, +which enable them to rise superior to superstitions. +After dwelling on the dreary existence of those +<a name="Page_385"></a>not of Christian faith, he forthwith pictures +his St. +Teresa going through twenty years of doubts and fears +about the salvation of her soul. The happiest people +I have known have been those who gave themselves no +concern about their own souls, but did their uttermost +to mitigate the miseries of others.</p> +<p>In May, 1885, we left Johnstown and took possession +of our house at Tenafly, New Jersey. It seemed very +pleasant, after wandering in the Old World and the +New, to be in my own home once more, surrounded by +the grand trees I so dearly loved; to see the gorgeous +sunsets, the twinkling fireflies; to hear the whippoorwills +call their familiar note, while the June bugs and the mosquitoes +buzz outside the nets through which they cannot +enter. Many people complain of the mosquito in +New Jersey, when he can so easily be shut out of the +family circle by nets over all the doors and windows. +I had a long piazza, encased in netting, where paterfamilias, +with his pipe, could muse and gaze at the stars +unmolested.</p> +<p>June brought Miss Anthony and a box of fresh documents +for another season of work on vol. III. of our History. +We had a flying visit from Miss Eddy of Providence, +daughter of Mrs. Eddy who gave fifty thousand +dollars to the woman suffrage movement, and a granddaughter +of Francis Jackson of Boston, who also left +a generous bequest to our reform. We found Miss +Eddy a charming young woman with artistic tastes. +She showed us several pen sketches she had made of +some of our reformers, that were admirable likenesses.</p> +<p>Mr. Stanton's "Random Recollections" were published +at this time and were well received. A dinner +was given him, on his eightieth birthday (June 27, +<a name="Page_386"></a>1885), by the Press Club of New York city, with +speeches and toasts by his lifelong friends. As no ladies +were invited I can only judge from the reports in the +daily papers, and what I could glean from the honored +guest himself, that it was a very interesting occasion.</p> +<p>Sitting in the summerhouse, one day, I witnessed a +most amusing scene. Two of the boys, in search of employment, +broke up a hornets' nest. Bruno, our large +Saint Bernard dog, seeing them jumping about, thought +he would join in the fun. The boys tried to drive him +away, knowing that the hornets would get in his long +hair, but Bruno's curiosity outran his caution and he +plunged into the midst of the swarm and was soon completely +covered. The buzzing and stinging soon sent +the poor dog howling on the run. He rushed as usual, +in his distress, to Amelia in the kitchen, where she and +the girls were making preserves and ironing. When +they saw the hornets, they dropped irons, spoons, jars, +everything, and rushed out of doors screaming. I +appreciated the danger in time to get safely into +the house before Bruno came to me for aid and +comfort. At last they played the hose on him +until he found some relief; the maidens, armed with +towels, thrashed right and left, and the boys, with +evergreen branches, fought bravely. I had often heard +of "stirring up a hornets' nest," but I had never before +seen a practical demonstration of its danger. For days +after, if Bruno heard anything buzz, he would rush for +the house at the top of his speed. But in spite of these +occasional lively episodes, vol. III. went steadily on.</p> +<p>My suffrage sons and daughters through all the +Northern and Western States decided to celebrate, on +the 12th of November, 1885, my seventieth birthday, +<a name="Page_387"></a>by holding meetings or sending me gifts and +congratulations. +This honor was suggested by Mrs. Elizabeth +Boynton Harbert in <i>The New Era</i>, a paper she was editing +at that time. The suggestion met with a ready +response. I was invited to deliver an essay on "The +Pleasures of Age," before the suffrage association in +New York city. It took me a week to think them up, +but with the inspiration of Longfellow's "Morituri +Salutamus," I was almost converted to the idea that +"we old folks" had the best of it.</p> +<p>The day was ushered in with telegrams, letters, and +express packages, which continued to arrive during the +week. From England, France, and Germany came +cablegrams, presents, and letters of congratulation, and +from all quarters came books, pictures, silver, bronzes, +California blankets, and baskets of fruits and flowers. +The eulogies in prose and verse were so hearty and +numerous that the ridicule and criticism of forty years +were buried so deep that I shall remember them no +more. There is no class who enjoy the praise of their +fellow-men like those who have had only blame most of +their lives. The evening of the 12th we had a delightful +reunion at the home of Dr. Clemence Lozier, where I +gave my essay, after which Mrs. Lozier, Mrs. Blake, Miss +Anthony, "Jenny June," and some of the younger converts +to our platform, all made short speeches of praise +and congratulation, which were followed by music, recitations, +and refreshments.</p> +<p>All during the autumn Miss Anthony and I looked +forward to the spring, when we hoped to have completed +the third and last volume of our History, and thus +end the labors of ten years. We had neither time nor +eyesight to read aught but the imperative documents +<a name="Page_388"></a>for the History. I was hungering for some other +mental +pabulum.</p> +<p>In January, 1886, I was invited to dine with Laura +Curtis Bullard, to meet Mme. Durand (Henri Gréville), +the novelist. She seemed a politic rather than an earnest +woman of principle. As it was often very inconvenient +for me to entertain distinguished visitors, who +desired to meet me in my country home during the +winter, Mrs. Bullard generously offered always to invite +them to her home. She and her good mother +have done their part in the reform movements in New +York by their generous hospitalities.</p> +<p>Reading the debates in Congress, at that time, on a +proposed appropriation for a monument to General +Grant, I was glad to see that Senator Plumb of Kansas +was brave enough to express his opinion against it. I +fully agree with him. So long as multitudes of our people +who are doing the work of the world live in garrets +and cellars, in ignorance, poverty, and vice, it is the +duty of Congress to apply the surplus in the national +treasury to objects which will feed, clothe, shelter, and +educate these wards of the State. If we must keep +on continually building monuments to great men, they +should be handsome blocks of comfortable homes for +the poor, such as Peabody built in London. Senator +Hoar of Massachusetts favored the Grant monument, +partly to cultivate the artistic tastes of our people. We +might as well cultivate our tastes on useful dwellings as +on useless monuments. Surely sanitary homes and +schoolhouses for the living would be more appropriate +monuments to wise statesmen than the purest Parian +shafts among the sepulchers of the dead.</p> +<p>The strikes and mobs and settled discontent of the +<a name="Page_389"></a>masses warn us that, although we forget and +neglect +their interests and our duties, we do it at the peril of all. +English statesmen are at their wits' end to-day with +their tangled social and industrial problems, threatening +the throne of a long line of kings. The impending +danger cannot be averted by any surface measures; +there must be a radical change in the relations of +capital and labor.</p> +<p>In April rumors of a domestic invasion, wafted on +every Atlantic breeze, warned us that our children were +coming from England and France—a party of six. +Fortunately, the last line of the History was written, so +Miss Anthony, with vol. III. and bushels of manuscripts, +fled to the peaceful home of her sister Mary at +Rochester. The expected party sailed from Liverpool +the 26th of May, on the <i>America</i> After being out +three days the piston rod broke and they were +obliged to return. My son-in-law, W.H. Blatch, +was so seasick and disgusted that he remained +in England, and took a fresh start two months later, +and had a swift passage without any accidents. The +rest were transferred to the <i>Germanic</i>, and reached New +York the 12th of June. Different divisions of the +party were arriving until midnight. Five people and +twenty pieces of baggage! The confusion of such an +invasion quite upset the even tenor of our days, and it +took some time for people and trunks to find their respective +niches. However crowded elsewhere, there +was plenty of room in our hearts, and we were unspeakably +happy to have our flock all around us once more.</p> +<p>I had long heard so many conflicting opinions about +the Bible—some saying it taught woman's emancipation +and some her subjection—that, during this visit of my +<a name="Page_390"></a>children, the thought came to me that it Would +be well +to collect every biblical reference to women in one small +compact volume, and see on which side the balance of +influence really was. To this end I proposed to organize +a committee of competent women, with some Latin, +Greek, and Hebrew scholars in England and the United +States, for a thorough revision of the Old and New +Testaments, and to ascertain what the status of woman +really was under the Jewish and Christian religion. As +the Church has thus far interpreted the Bible as teaching +woman's subjection, and none of the revisions by +learned ecclesiastics have thrown any new light on the +question, it seemed to me pre-eminently proper and +timely for women themselves to review the book. As +they are now studying theology in many institutions of +learning, asking to be ordained as preachers, elders, deacons, +and to be admitted, as delegates, to Synods and +General Assemblies, and are refused on Bible grounds, +it seemed to me high time for women to consider those +scriptural arguments and authorities.</p> +<p>A happy coincidence enabled me at last to begin this +work. While my daughter, Mrs. Stanton Blatch, was +with me, our friend Miss Frances Lord, on our earnest +invitation, came to America to visit us. She landed +in New York the 4th of August, 1886. As it was +Sunday she could not telegraph, hence there was no +one to meet her, and, as we all sat chatting on the +front piazza, suddenly, to our surprise and delight, she +drove up. After a few days' rest and general talk of +passing events, I laid the subject so near my heart before +her and my daughter. They responded promptly and +heartily, and we immediately set to work. I wrote to +every woman who I thought might join such a commit<a name="Page_391"></a>tee, +and Miss Lord ran through the Bible in a few days, +marking each chapter that in any way referred to +women. We found that the work would not be so great +as we imagined, as all the facts and teachings in regard +to women occupied less than one-tenth of the whole +Scriptures. We purchased some cheap Bibles, cut out +the texts, pasted them at the head of the page, and, +underneath, wrote our commentaries as clearly and concisely +as possible. We did not intend to have sermons +or essays, but brief comments, to keep "The Woman's +Bible" as small as possible.</p> +<p>Miss Lord and I worked several weeks together, and +Mrs. Blatch and I, during the winter of 1887, wrote +all our commentaries on the Pentateuch. But we could +not succeed in forming the committee, nor, after writing +innumerable letters, make the women understand what +we wanted to do. I still have the commentaries of the +few who responded, and the letters of those who declined—a +most varied and amusing bundle of manuscripts +in themselves. Some said the Bible had no +special authority with them; that, like the American +Constitution, it could be interpreted to mean anything—slavery, +when we protected that "Institution," and +freedom, when it existed no longer. Others said that +woman's sphere was clearly marked out in the Scriptures, +and all attempt at emancipation was flying in the +face of Providence. Others said they considered all +the revisions made by men thus far, had been so many +acts of sacrilege, and they did hope women would not +add their influence, to weaken the faith of the people in +the divine origin of the Holy Book, for, if men and +women could change it in one particular, they could in +all. On the whole the correspondence was discouraging.</p> +<p><a name="Page_392"></a>Later Miss Lord became deeply interested in +psychical +researches, and I could get no more work out of +her. And as soon as we had finished the Pentateuch, +Mrs. Blatch declared she would go no farther; that it +was the driest history she had ever read, and most derogatory +to women. My beloved coadjutor, Susan B. +Anthony, said that she thought it a work of supererogation; +that when our political equality was recognized +and we became full-fledged American citizens, the +Church would make haste to bring her Bibles and +prayer books, creeds and discipline up to the same high-water +mark of liberty.</p> +<p>Helen Gardener said: "I consider this a most important +proposal, and if you and I can ever stay on the +same side of the Atlantic long enough, we will join +hands and do the work. In fact, I have begun already +with Paul's Epistles, and am fascinated with the work. +The untenable and unscientific positions he takes in +regard to women are very amusing. Although the first +chapter of Genesis teaches the simultaneous creation of +man and woman, Paul bases woman's subjection on the +priority of man, and because woman was of the man. +As the historical fact is that, as far back as history dates, +the man has been of the woman, should he therefore be +forever in bondage to her? Logically, according to +Paul, he should."</p> +<p>I consulted several friends, such as Dr. William F. +Channing, Mr. and Mrs. Moncure D. Conway, Gertrude +Garrison, Frederick Cabot, and Edward M. Davis, as +to the advisability of the work, and they all agreed that +such a volume, showing woman's position under the +Jewish and Christian religions, would be valuable, but +none of them had time to assist in the project. +<a name="Page_393"></a>Though, owing to all these discouragements, I +discontinued +my work, I never gave up the hope of renewing +it some time, when other of my coadjutors should +awake to its importance and offer their services.</p> +<p>On October 27, 1886, with my daughter, nurse, and +grandchild, I again sailed for England. Going out of +the harbor in the clear early morning, we had a fine +view of Bartholdi's statue of Liberty Enlightening the +World. We had a warm, gentle rain and a smooth sea +most of the way, and, as we had a stateroom on deck, +we could have the portholes open, and thus get all the +air we desired. With novels and letters, chess and +whist the time passed pleasantly, and, on the ninth day, +we landed in Liverpool.</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a> +<h2><a name="Page_394"></a>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2> +<h2>ENGLAND AND FRANCE REVISITED.</h2> +<br> +<p>On arriving at Basingstoke we found awaiting +us cordial letters of welcome from Miss Biggs, +Miss Priestman, Mrs. Peter Taylor, Mrs. Priscilla +McLaren, Miss Müller, Mrs. Jacob Bright, and Mme. +de Barrau. During the winter Mrs. Margaret Bright +Lucas, Drs. Kate and Julia Mitchell, Mrs. Charles McLaren, +Mrs. Saville, and Miss Balgarnie each spent a +day or two with us. The full-dress costume of the +ladies was a great surprise to my little granddaughter +Nora. She had never seen bare shoulders in a drawing +room, and at the first glance she could not believe her +eyes. She slowly made the circuit of the room, coming +nearer and nearer until she touched the lady's neck to +see whether or not it was covered with some peculiar +shade of dress, but finding the bare skin she said: +"Why, you are not dressed, are you? I see your skin!" +The scene suggested to me the amusing description in +Holmes' "Elsie Venner," of the efforts of a young lady, +seated between two old gentlemen, to show off her +white shoulders. The vicar would not look, but +steadily prayed that he might not be led into temptation; +but the physician, with greater moral hardihood, +deliberately surveyed the offered charms, with spectacles +on his nose.</p> +<p>In December Hattie and I finished Dowden's "Life +of Shelley," which we had been reading together. Here +<a name="Page_395"></a>we find a sensitive, refined nature, full of +noble purposes, +thrown out when too young to meet all life's emergencies, +with no loving Mentor to guard him from blunders +or to help to retrieve the consequences of his false positions. +Had he been surrounded with a few true +friends, who could appreciate what was great in him +and pity what was weak, his life would have been different. +His father was hard, exacting, and unreasonable; +hence he had no influence. His mother had neither +the wisdom to influence him, nor the courage to rebuke +her husband; and alas! poor woman, she was in such +thraldom herself to conventionalisms, that she could +not understand a youth who set them all at defiance.</p> +<div style="text-align: center;"><a name="img010"></a><img + style="width: 400px; height: 303px;" alt="THREE GENERATIONS." + title="THREE GENERATIONS." src="image/010.jpg"><br> +</div> +<br> +<div style="text-align: center;"><a name="img011"></a><img + style="width: 400px; height: 551px;" alt="MY EIGHTIETH BIRTHDAY." + title="MY EIGHTIETH BIRTHDAY." src="image/011.jpg"></div> +<p>We also read Cotton Morrison's "Service of Man," +which I hope will be a new inspiration to fresh labors +by all for the elevation of humanity, and Carnegie's +"Triumphant Democracy," showing the power our +country is destined to wield and the vastness of our domain. +This book must give every American citizen +a feeling of deeper responsibility than ever before to +act well his part. We read, too, Harriet Martineau's +translation of the works of Auguste Comte, and found +the part on woman most unsatisfactory. He criticises +Aristotle's belief that slavery is a necessary element of +social life, yet seems to think the subjection of woman +in modern civilization a matter of no importance.</p> +<p>All through that winter Hattie and I occupied our +time studying the Bible and reading the commentaries +of Clark, Scott, and Wordsworth (Bishop of Lincoln). +We found nothing grand in the history of the Jews nor +in the morals inculcated in the Pentateuch. Surely the +writers had a very low idea of the nature of their God. +They make Him not only anthropomorphic, but of the +<a name="Page_396"></a>very lowest type, jealous and revengeful, loving +violence +rather than mercy. I know no other books that so +fully teach the subjection and degradation of woman. +Miriam, the eldest sister of Moses and Aaron, a genius, +a prophetess, with the family aptitude for diplomacy +and government, is continually set aside because of her +sex—permitted to lead the women in singing and dancing, +nothing more. No woman could offer sacrifices +nor eat the holy meats because, according to the Jews, +she was too unclean and unholy.</p> +<p>But what is the use, say some, of attaching any importance +to the customs and teachings of a barbarous +people? None whatever. But when our bishops, archbishops, +and ordained clergymen stand up in their +pulpits and read selections from the Pentateuch with +reverential voice, they make the women of their congregation +believe that there really is some divine authority +for their subjection. In the Thirty-First Chapter of +Numbers, in speaking of the spoils taken from the +Midianites, the live stock is thus summarized: "Five +thousand sheep, threescore and twelve thousand +beeves, threescore and one thousand asses, and +thirty-two thousand women and women-children," +which Moses said the warriors might keep for themselves. +What a pity a Stead had not been there, to +protect the child-women of the Midianites and rebuke +the Lord's chosen people as they deserved! In placing +the women after the sheep, the beeves, and the asses, +we have a fair idea of their comparative importance in +the scale of being, among the Jewish warriors. No +wonder the right reverend bishops and clergy of the +Methodist Church, who believe in the divine origin and +authority of the Pentateuch, exclude women from their +<a name="Page_397"></a>great convocations in the American Republic in +the +nineteenth century. In view of the fact that our children +are taught to reverence the book as of divine origin, +I think we have a right to ask that, in the next revision, +all such passages be expurgated, and to that end learned, +competent women must have an equal place on the revising +committee.</p> +<p>Mrs. Margaret Bright Lucas came, in February, to +spend a few days with us. She was greatly shocked +with many texts in the Old Testament, to which we +called her attention, and said: "Here is an insidious +influence against the elevation of women, which but few +of us have ever taken into consideration." She had just +returned from a flying visit to America; having made +two voyages across the Atlantic and traveled three +thousand miles across the continent in two months, and +this at the age of sixty-eight years. She was enthusiastic +in her praises of the women she met in the +United States. As her name was already on the committee +to prepare "The Woman's Bible," we had her +hearty approval of the undertaking.</p> +<p>In October Hattie went to London, to attend a meeting +to form a Woman's Liberal Federation. Mrs. +Gladstone presided. The speeches made were simply +absurd, asking women to organize themselves to help +the Liberal party, which had steadily denied to them +the political rights they had demanded for twenty years. +Professor Stuart capped the climax of insult when he +urged as "one great advantage in getting women to +canvass for the Liberal party was that they would give +their services free." The Liberals saw what enthusiasm +the Primrose Dames had roused for the Tory party, +really carrying the election, and they determined to util<a + name="Page_398"></a>ize +a similar force in their ranks. But the whole movement +was an insult to women.</p> +<p>The one absorbing interest, then, was the Queen's +Jubilee. Ladies formed societies to collect funds to +place at the disposal of the Queen. Every little village +was divided into districts, and different ladies took +the rounds, begging pennies at every door of servants +and the laboring masses, and pounds of the wealthy +people. One of them paid us a visit. She asked the +maid who opened the door to see the rest of the servants, +and she begged a penny of each of them. She +then asked to see the mistress. My daughter descended; +but, instead of a pound, she gave her a lecture +on the Queen's avarice. When the fund was started the +people supposed the Queen was to return it all to the +people in liberal endowments of charitable institutions, +but her Majesty proposed to build a monument to +Prince Albert, although he already had one in London. +"The Queen," said my daughter, "should celebrate her +Jubilee by giving good gifts to her subjects, and not +by filching from the poor their pennies. To give half +her worldly possessions to her impoverished people, to +give Home Rule to Ireland, or to make her public +schools free, would be deeds worthy her Jubilee; but to +take another cent from those who are hopelessly poor +is a sin against suffering humanity." The young +woman realized the situation and said: "I shall go no +farther. I wish I could return every penny I have taken +from the needy."</p> +<p>The most fitting monuments this nation can build +are schoolhouses and homes for those who do the work +of the world. It is no answer to say that they are accustomed +to rags and hunger. In this world of plenty +<a name="Page_399"></a>every human being has a right to food, clothes, +decent +shelter, and the rudiments of education. "Something +is rotten in the state of Denmark" when one-tenth of +the human family, booted and spurred, ride the masses +to destruction. I detest the words "royalty" and +"nobility," and all the ideas and institutions based on +their recognition. In April the great meeting in Hyde +Park occurred—a meeting of protest against the Irish +Coercion Bill. It was encouraging to see that there +is a democratic as well as an aristocratic England. The +London journals gave very different accounts of the +meeting. The Tories said it was a mob of inconsequential +cranks. Reason teaches us, however, that you cannot +get up a large, enthusiastic meeting unless there is +some question pending that touches the heart of the +people. Those who say that Ireland has no grievances +are ignorant alike of human nature and the facts of +history.</p> +<p>On April 14 I went to Paris, my daughter escorting +me to Dover, and my son meeting me at Calais. It was +a bright, pleasant day, and I sat on deck and enjoyed +the trip, though many of my fellow passengers were pale +and limp. Whirling to Paris in an easy car, through +the beautiful wheatfields and vineyards, I thought of +the old lumbering diligence, in which we went up to +Paris at a snail's pace forty years before. I remained +in Paris until October, and never enjoyed six months +more thoroughly. One of my chief pleasures was making +the acquaintance of my fourth son, Theodore. I +had seen but little of him since he was sixteen years old, +as he then spent five years at Cornell University, and +as many more in Germany and France. He had already +published two works, "The Life of Thiers," and "The +<a name="Page_400"></a>Woman Question in Europe." To have a son +interested +in the question to which I have devoted my life, is a +source of intense satisfaction. To say that I have realized +in him all I could desire, is the highest praise a +fond mother can give.</p> +<p>My first experience in an apartment, living on an even +plane, no running up and down stairs, was as pleasant +as it was surprising. I had no idea of the comfort and +convenience of this method of keeping house. Our +apartment in Paris consisted of drawing room, dining +room, library, a good-sized hall, in which stood a large +American stove, five bedrooms, bathroom, and kitchen, +and a balcony fifty-two feet long and four feet wide. +The first few days it made me dizzy to look down from +this balcony to the street below. I was afraid the whole +structure would give way, it appeared so light and +airy, hanging midway between earth and heaven. But +my confidence in its steadfastness and integrity grew +day by day, and it became my favorite resort, commanding, +as it did, a magnificent view of the whole city and +distant surroundings.</p> +<p>There were so many Americans in town, and French +reformers to be seen, that I gave Wednesday afternoon +receptions during my whole visit. To one of our "at +homes" came Mlle. Maria Deraismes, the only female +Free Mason in France, and the best woman orator in the +country; her sister, Mme. Féresse-Deraismes, who takes +part in all woman movements; M. Léon Richer, then +actively advocating the civil and political rights of +women through the columns of his vigorous journal; +Mme. Griess Traut, who makes a specialty of Peace +work; Mme. Isabelle Bogelot, who afterward attended +the Washington Council of 1888, and who is a leader in +<a name="Page_401"></a>charity work; the late Mme. Emilie de Morsier, +who +afterward was the soul of the International Congress +of 1889, at Paris; Mme. Pauline Kergomard, the first +woman to be made a member of the Superior Council +of public Instruction in France, and Mme. Henri Gréville, +the novelist.</p> +<p>Among the American guests at our various Wednesday +receptions were Mr. and Mrs. John Bigelow, Mr. and +Mrs. James G. Blaine, Mr. Daniel C. French, the Concord +sculptor; Mrs. J.C. Ayer, Mr. L. White Busbey, one of +the editors of the Chicago <i>Inter-Ocean</i>; Rev. Dr. Henry +M. Field, Charles Gifford Dyer, the painter and father +of the gifted young violinist, Miss Hella Dyer; the late +Rev. Mr. Moffett, then United States Consul at +Athens, Mrs. Governor Bagley and daughter of Michigan; +Grace Greenwood and her talented daughter, who +charmed everyone with her melodious voice, and Miss +Bryant, daughter of the poet. One visitor who interested +us most was the Norwegian novelist and republican, +Bjornstjorne Bjornson.</p> +<p>We had several pleasant interviews with Frederick +Douglass and his wife, some exciting games of chess +with Theodore Tilton, in the pleasant apartments of the +late W.J.A. Fuller, Esq., and his daughter, Miss Kate +Fuller. At this time I also met our brilliant countrywoman, +Louise Chandler Moulton. Seeing so many +familiar faces, I could easily imagine myself in New +York rather than in Paris. I attended several receptions +and dined with Mrs. Charlotte Beebe Wilbour, +greatly enjoying her clever descriptions of a +winter on the Nile in her own dahabeeyeh. I heard +Père Hyacinthe preach, and met his American wife on +several occasions. I took long drives every day +<a name="Page_402"></a>through the parks and pleasant parts of the +city. With +garden concerts, operas, theaters, and the Hippodrome +I found abundant amusement. I never grew weary of +the latter performance—the wonderful intelligence displayed +there by animals, being a fresh surprise to me +every time I went.</p> +<p>I attended a reception at the Elysée Palace, escorted +by M. Joseph Fabre, then a deputy and now a senator. +M. Fabre is the author of a play and several volumes +devoted to Joan of Arc. He presented me to the President +and to Mme. Jules Grévy. I was also introduced +to M. Jules Ferry, then Prime Minister, who said, among +other things: "I am sorry to confess it, but it is only too +true, our French women are far behind their sisters in +America." The beautiful, large garden was thrown +open that evening,—it was in July,—and the fine band +of the Republican Guard gave a delightful concert under +the big trees. I also met M. Grévy's son-in-law, M. +Daniel Wilson. He was then a deputy and one of the +most powerful politicians in France. A few months +later he caused his father's political downfall. I have +a vivid recollection of him because he could speak English, +his father having been a British subject.</p> +<p>I visited the picture galleries once more, after a lapse +of nearly fifty years, and was struck by the fact that, in +that interval, several women had been admitted to +places of honor. This was especially noticeable in the +Luxembourg Sculpture Gallery, where two women, +Mme. Bertaux and the late Claude Vignon, wife of M. +Rouvier, were both represented by good work—the first +and only women sculptors admitted to that gallery.</p> +<p>At a breakfast party which we gave, I made the acquaintance +of General Cluseret, who figured in our +<a name="Page_403"></a>Civil War, afterward became War Minister of the +Paris +Commune, and is now member of the Chamber of Deputies. +He learned English when in America, and had not +entirely forgotten it. He told anecdotes of Lincoln, +Stanton, Sumner, Fremont, Garibaldi, the Count of +Paris, and many other famous men whom he once knew, +and proved to be a very interesting conversationalist.</p> +<p>Old bookstands were always attractive centers of interest +to Theodore, and, among other treasure-troves, +he brought home one day a boy of fourteen years, whose +office it had been to watch the books. He was a bright, +cheery little fellow of mixed French and German descent, +who could speak English, French, and German. +He was just what we had desired, to run errands and +tend the door. As he was delighted with the idea of +coming to us, we went to see his parents. We were +pleased with their appearance and surroundings. We +learned that they were members of the Lutheran +Church, that the boy was one of the shining lights in +Sunday school, and the only point in our agreement +on which they were strenuous was that he should go +regularly to Sunday school and have time to learn his +lessons.</p> +<p>So "Immanuel" commenced a new life with us, and +as we had unbounded confidence in the boy's integrity, +we excused his shortcomings, and, for a time, believed +all he said. But before long we found out that the +moment we left the house he was in the drawing room, +investigating every drawer, playing on the piano, or +sleeping on the sofa. Though he was told never to +touch the hall stove, he would go and open all the +draughts and make it red-hot. Then we adopted the +plan of locking up every part of the apartment but the +<a name="Page_404"></a>kitchen. He amused himself burning holes through +the +pantry shelves, when the cook was out, and boring holes, +with a gimlet, through a handsomely carved bread +board. One day, in making up a spare bed for a friend, +under the mattress were found innumerable letters he +was supposed to have mailed at different times. When +we reprimanded him for his pranks he would look at us +steadily, but sorrowfully, and, immediately afterward, +we would hear him dancing down the corridor singing, +"Safe in the Arms of Jesus." If he had given heed to +one-half we said to him, he would have been safer in +our hands than in those of his imaginary protector. He +turned out a thief, an unmitigated liar, a dancing dervish, +and, through all our experiences of six weeks with +him, his chief reading was his Bible and Sunday-school +books. The experience, however, was not lost on +Theodore—he has never suggested a boy since, and a +faithful daughter of Eve reigns in his stead.</p> +<p>During the summer I was in the hands of two artists, +Miss Anna Klumpke, who painted my portrait, and +Paul Bartlett, who molded my head in clay. To +shorten the operation, sometimes I sat for both at the +same time. Although neither was fully satisfied with +the results of their labors, we had many pleasant +hours together, discussing their art, their early trials, +and artists in general. Each had good places in the +<i>Salon</i>, and honorable mention that year. It is sad +to see so many American girls and boys, who have +no genius for painting or sculpture, spending their days +in garrets, in solitude and poverty, with the vain hope +of earning distinction. Women of all classes are awaking +to the necessity of self-support, but few are willing to +do the ordinary useful work for which they are fitted. +<a name="Page_405"></a>In the <i>Salon</i> that year six thousand +pictures were +offered, and only two thousand accepted, and many of +these were "skyed."</p> +<p>It was lovely on our balcony at night to watch the +little boats, with their lights, sailing up and down the +Seine, especially the day of the great annual fête,—the +14th of July,—when the whole city was magnificently +illuminated. We drove about the city on several +occasions at midnight, to see the life—men, women, and +children enjoying the cool breezes, and the restaurants +all crowded with people.</p> +<p>Sunday in Paris is charming—it is the day for the +masses of the people. All the galleries of art, the libraries, +concert halls, and gardens are open to them. All +are dressed in their best, out driving, walking, and having +picnics in the various parks and gardens; husbands, +wives, and children laughing and talking happily together. +The seats in the streets and parks are all filled +with the laboring masses. The benches all over Paris—along +the curbstones in every street and highway—show +the care given to the comfort of the people. You +will see mothers and nurses with their babies and children +resting on these benches, laboring men eating their +lunches and sleeping there at noon, the organ grinders +and monkeys, too, taking their comfort. In France +you see men and women everywhere together; in England +the men generally stagger about alone, caring +more for their pipes and beer than their mothers, wives, +and sisters. Social life, among the poor especially, is +far more natural and harmonious in France than in England, +because women mix more freely in business and +amusements.</p> +<p>Coming directly from Paris to London, one is forci<a name="Page_406"></a>bly +struck with the gloom of the latter city, especially +at night. Paris with its electric lights is brilliant everywhere, +while London, with its meager gas jets here and +there struggling with the darkness, is as gloomy and +desolate as Dore's pictures of Dante's Inferno. On +Sunday, when the shops are closed, the silence and solitude +of the streets, the general smoky blackness of the +buildings and the atmosphere give one a melancholy +impression of the great center of civilization. Now +that it has been discovered that smoke can be utilized +and the atmosphere cleared, it is astonishing that the +authorities do not avail themselves of the discovery, +and thus bring light and joy and sunshine into that +city, and then clean the soot of centuries from their +blackened buildings.</p> +<p>On my return to England I spent a day with Miss +Emily Lord, at her kindergarten establishment. She +had just returned from Sweden, where she spent six +weeks in the carpenter's shop, studying the Swedish +Slöjd system, in which children of twelve years old +learn to use tools, making spoons, forks, and other implements. +Miss Lord showed us some of her work, +quite creditable for her first attempts. She said the children +in the higher grades of her school enjoyed the +carpenter work immensely and became very deft in the +use of tools.</p> +<p>On November 1, 1887, we reached Basingstoke once +more, and found all things in order. My diary tells of +several books I read during the winter and what the +authors say of women; one the "Religio Medici," by +Sir Thomas Browne, M.D., in which the author discourses +on many high themes, God, Creation, Heaven, +Hell, and vouchsafes one sentence on woman. Of her +<a name="Page_407"></a>he says: "I was never married but once and +commend +their resolution who never marry twice, not that I disallow +of second, nor in all cases of polygamy, which, considering +the unequal number of the sexes, may also be +necessary. The whole world was made for man, but the +twelfth part of man for woman. Man is the whole +world—the breath of God; woman the rib and crooked +piece of man. I speak not in prejudice nor am averse +from that sweet sex, but naturally amorous of all that +is beautiful. I can look all day at a handsome picture, +though it be but a horse."</p> +<p>Turning to John Paul Friedrich Richter, I found +in his chapter on woman many equally ridiculous +statements mixed up with much fulsome admiration. +After reading some volumes of Richter, I +took up Heinrich Heine, the German poet and +writer. He said: "Oh, the women! We must forgive +them much, for they love much and many. Their +hate is, properly, only love turned inside out. Sometimes +they attribute some delinquency to us, because +they think they can, in this way, gratify another man. +When they write they have always one eye on the paper +and the other eye on some man. This is true of all +authoresses except the Countess Hahn Hahn, who has +only one eye." John Ruskin's biography he gives +us a glimpse of his timidity in regard to the sex, when +a young man. He was very fond of the society of girls, +but never knew how to approach them. He said he +"was perfectly happy in serving them, would gladly +make a bridge of himself for them to walk over, a beam +to fasten a swing to for them—anything but to talk to +them." Such are some of the choice specimens of +masculine wit I collected during my winter's reading!</p> +<p><a name="Page_408"></a>At a reception given to me by Drs. Julia and +Kate +Mitchell, sisters practicing medicine in London, I met +Stepniak, the Russian Nihilist, a man of grand presence +and fine conversational powers. He was about to go to +America, apprehensive lest our Government should +make an extradition treaty with Russia to return political +offenders, as he knew that proposal had been made. +A few weeks later he did visit the United States, and +had a hearing before a committee of the Senate. He +pointed out the character of the Nihilist movement, +declaring Nihilists to be the real reformers, the true +lovers of liberty, sacrificing themselves for the best interests +of the people, and yet, as political prisoners, they +are treated worse than the lowest class of criminals in +the prisons and mines of Siberia.</p> +<p>I had a very unpleasant interview, during this visit +to London, with Miss Lydia Becker, Miss Caroline +Biggs, and Miss Blackburn, at the Metropole, about +choosing delegates to the International Council of +Women soon to be held in Washington. As there had +been some irreconcilable dissensions in the suffrage +association, and they could not agree as to whom their +delegate should be, they decided to send none at all. I +wrote at once to Mrs. Priscilla Bright McLaren, pointing +out what a shame it would be if England, above all +countries, should not be represented in the first International +Council ever called by a suffrage association. +She replied promptly that must not be, and immediately +moved in the matter, and through her efforts three +delegates were soon authorized to go, representing +different constituencies—Mrs. Alice Cliff Scatcherd, +Mrs. Ormiston Chant, and Mrs. Ashton Dilke.</p> +<p>Toward the last of February, 1888, we went again to +<a name="Page_409"></a>London to make a few farewell visits to dear +friends. +We spent a few days with Mrs. Mona Caird, who was +then reading Karl Pearson's lectures on "Woman," and +expounding her views on marriage, which she afterward +gave to the Westminster Review, and stirred the +press to white heat both in England and America. "Is +Marriage a Failure?" furnished the heading for our +quack advertisements for a long time after. Mrs. +Caird was a very graceful, pleasing woman, and so gentle +in manner and appearance that no one would deem +her capable of hurling such thunderbolts at the long-suffering +Saxon people.</p> +<p>We devoted one day to Prince Krapotkine, who lives +at Harrow, in the suburbs of London. A friend of his, +Mr. Lieneff, escorted us there. We found the prince, +his wife, and child in very humble quarters; uncarpeted +floors, books and papers on pine shelves, wooden chairs, +and the bare necessaries of life—nothing more. They +indulge in no luxuries, but devote all they can spare to +the publication of liberal opinions to be scattered in +Russia, and to help Nihilists in escaping from the dominions +of the Czar. The prince and princess took +turns in holding and amusing the baby—then only +one year old; fortunately it slept most of the +time, so that the conversation flowed on for some +hours. Krapotkine told us of his sad prison experiences, +both in France and Russia. He said the +series of articles by George Kennan in the <i>Century</i> were +not too highly colored, that the sufferings of men and +women in Siberia and the Russian prisons could not be +overdrawn. One of the refinements of cruelty they +practice on prisoners is never to allow them to hear +the human voice. A soldier always accompanies the +<a name="Page_410"></a>warder who distributes the food, to see that no +word is +spoken. In vain the poor prisoner asks questions, no +answer is ever made, no tidings from the outside world +ever given. One may well ask what devil in human +form has prescribed such prison life and discipline! I +wonder if we could find a man in all Russia who would +defend the system, yet someone is responsible for its +terrible cruelties!</p> +<p>We returned to Basingstoke, passed the few remaining +days in looking over papers and packing for the +voyage, and, on March 4, 1888, Mrs. Blatch went with +me to Southampton. On the train I met my companions +for the voyage, Mrs. Gustafsen, Mrs. Ashton +Dilke, and Baroness Gripenberg, from Finland, a very +charming woman, to whom I felt a strong attraction. +The other delegates sailed from Liverpool. We had a +rough voyage and most of the passengers were very +sick. Mrs. Dilke and I were well, however, and on deck +every day, always ready to play whist and chess with a +few gentlemen who were equally fortunate. I was +much impressed with Mrs. Dilke's kindness and generosity +in serving others. There was a lady on board with +two children, whose nurse at the last minute refused to +go with her. The mother was sick most of the way, +and Mrs. Dilke did all in her power to relieve her, by +amusing the little boy, telling him stories, walking with +him on deck, and watching him throughout the day, no +easy task to perform for an entire stranger. The poor +little mother with a baby in her arms must have appreciated +such kindly attention.</p> +<p>When the pilot met us off Sandy Hook, he brought +news of the terrible blizzard New York had just experienced, +by which all communication with the world at +<a name="Page_411"></a>large was practically suspended. The captain +brought +him down into the saloon to tell us all about it. The +news was so startling that at first we thought the pilot +was joking, but when he produced the metropolitan +journals to verify his statements, we listened to the +reading and what he had to say with profound astonishment. +The second week in March, 1888, will be memorable +in the history of storms in the vicinity of New +York. The snow was ten feet deep in some places, and +the side streets impassable either for carriages or sleighs. +I hoped the city would be looking its best, for the first +impression on my foreign friends, but it never looked +worse, with huge piles of snow everywhere covered with +black dust.</p> +<p>I started for Washington at three o'clock, the day +after our arrival, reached there at ten o'clock, and found +my beloved friends, Miss Anthony and Mrs. Spofford, +with open arms and warm hearts to receive me. As the +vessel was delayed two days, our friends naturally +thought we, too, had encountered a blizzard, but we had +felt nothing of it; on the contrary the last days were the +most pleasant of the voyage.</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXV"></a> +<h2><a name="Page_412"></a>CHAPTER XXV.</h2> +<h2>THE INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF WOMEN.</h2> +<br> +<p>Pursuant to the idea of the feasibility and need of an +International Council of Women, mentioned in a preceding +chapter, it was decided to celebrate the fourth +decade of the woman suffrage movement in the United +States by calling together such a council. At its nineteenth +annual convention, held in January, 1887, the +National Woman Suffrage Association resolved to +assume the entire responsibility of holding a council, and +to extend an invitation, for that purpose, to all associations +of women in the trades, professions, and reforms, +as well as those advocating political rights. +Early in June, 1887, a call was issued for such a council +to convene under the auspices of the National Woman +Suffrage Association at Washington, D. C, on March +25, 1888. The grand assemblage of women, coming +from all the countries of the civilized globe, proved that +the call for such a council was opportune, while the +order and dignity of the proceedings proved the women +worthy the occasion. No one doubts now the wisdom +of that initiative step nor the added power women have +gained over popular thought through the International +Council.</p> +<p>As the proceedings of the contention were fully and +graphically reported in the <i>Woman's Tribune</i> at that +time, and as its reports were afterward published in +book form, revised and corrected by Miss Anthony, +<a name="Page_413"></a>Miss Foster, and myself, I will merely say that +our most +sanguine expectations as to its success were more than +realized. The large theater was crowded for an entire +week, and hosts of able women spoke, as if specially inspired, +on all the vital questions of the hour. Although +the council was called and conducted by the suffrage +association, yet various other societies were represented. +Miss Anthony was the financier of the occasion and +raised twelve thousand dollars for the purpose, which +enabled her to pay all the expenses of the delegates in +Washington, and for printing the report in book form. +As soon as I reached Washington, Miss Anthony +ordered me to remain conscientiously in my own apartment +and to prepare a speech for delivery before the +committees of the Senate and House, and another, as +President, for the opening of the council. However, +as Mrs. Spofford placed her carriage at our service, I +was permitted to drive an hour or two every day about +that magnificent city.</p> +<p>One of the best speeches at the council was made by +Helen H. Gardener. It was a criticism of Dr. Hammond's +position in regard to the inferior size and quality +of woman's brain. As the doctor had never had the opportunity +of examining the brains of the most distinguished +women, and, probably, those only of paupers +and criminals, she felt he had no data on which to base +his conclusions. Moreover, she had the written opinion +of several leading physicians, that it was quite impossible +to distinguish the male from the female brain.</p> +<p>The hearing at the Capitol, after the meeting of the +council, was very interesting, as all the foreign delegates +were invited to speak each in the language of her +own country; to address their alleged representatives +<a name="Page_414"></a>in the halls of legislation was a privilege they +had never +enjoyed at home. It is very remarkable that English +women have never made the demand for a hearing in +the House of Commons, nor even for a decent place to +sit, where they can hear the debates and see the fine proportions +of the representatives. The delegates had +several brilliant receptions at the Riggs House, and at +the houses of Senator Stanford of California and Senator +Palmer of Michigan. Miss Anthony and I spent +two months in Washington, that winter. One of the +great pleasures of our annual conventions was the +reunion of our friends at the Riggs House, where we +enjoyed the boundless hospitality of Mr. and Mrs. +Spofford.</p> +<p>The month of June I spent in New York city, where +I attended several of Colonel Robert G. Ingersoll's receptions +and saw the great orator and iconoclast at his +own fireside, surrounded by his admirers, and heard +his beautiful daughters sing, which gave all who listened +great pleasure, as they have remarkably fine voices. +One has since married, and is now pouring out her richest +melodies in the opera of lullaby in her own nursery.</p> +<p>In the fall of 1888, as Ohio was about to hold a Constitutional +convention, at the request of the suffrage +association I wrote an appeal to the women of the State +to demand their right to vote for delegates to such convention. +Mrs. Southworth had five thousand copies of +my appeal published and distributed at the exposition +in Columbus. If ten righteous men could save Sodom, +all the brilliant women I met in Cleveland should have +saved Ohio from masculine domination.</p> +<p>The winter of 1888-89 I was to spend with my +daughter in Omaha. I reached there in time to wit<a name="Page_415"></a>ness +the celebration of the completion of the first bridge +between that city and Council Bluffs. There was a +grand procession in which all the industries of both +towns were represented, and which occupied six hours +in passing. We had a desirable position for reviewing +the pageant, and very pleasant company to interpret the +mottoes, symbols, and banners. The bridge practically +brings the towns together, as electric street cars now +run from one to the other in ten minutes. Here, for the +first time, I saw the cable cars running up hill and down +without any visible means of locomotion.</p> +<p>As the company ran an open car all winter, I took my +daily ride of nine miles in it for fifteen cents. My son +Daniel, who escorted me, always sat inside the car, while +I remained on an outside seat. He was greatly amused +with the remarks he heard about that "queer old lady +that always rode outside in all kinds of wintry weather." +One day someone remarked loud enough for all to hear: +"It is evident that woman does not know enough to +come in when it rains." "Bless me!" said the conductor, +who knew me, "that woman knows as much +as the Queen of England; too much to come in here by +a hot stove." How little we understand the comparative +position of those whom we often criticise. There +I sat enjoying the bracing air, the pure fresh breezes, +indifferent to the fate of an old cloak and hood that had +crossed the Atlantic and been saturated with salt water +many times, pitying the women inside breathing air +laden with microbes that dozens of people had been +throwing off from time to time, sacrificing themselves +to their stylish bonnets, cloaks, and dresses, suffering +with the heat of the red-hot stove; and yet they, in turn, +pitying me.</p> +<p><a name="Page_416"></a>My seventy-third birthday I spent with my son +Gerrit +Smith Stanton, on his farm near Portsmouth, Iowa. +As we had not met in several years, it took us a long +time, in the network of life, to pick up all the stitches +that had dropped since we parted. I amused myself +darning stockings and drawing plans for an addition to +his house. But in the spring my son and his wife +came to the conclusion that they had had enough of the +solitude of farm life and turned their faces eastward.</p> +<p>Soon after my return to Omaha, the editor of the +<i>Woman's Tribune</i>, Mrs. Clara B. Colby, called and +lunched with us one day. She announced the coming +State convention, at which I was expected "to make +the best speech of my life." She had all the arrangements +to make, and invited me to drive round with her, +in order that she might talk by the way. She engaged +the Opera House, made arrangements at the +Paxton House for a reception, called on all her faithful +coadjutors to arouse enthusiasm in the work, and +climbed up to the sanctums of the editors,—Democratic +and Republican alike,—asking them to advertise the +convention and to say a kind word for our oppressed +class in our struggle for emancipation. They all promised +favorable notices and comments, and they kept their +promises. Mrs. Colby, being president of the Nebraska +Suffrage Association, opened the meeting with an able +speech, and presided throughout with tact and dignity.</p> +<p>I came very near meeting with an unfortunate experience +at this convention. The lady who escorted me +in her carriage to the Opera House carried the manuscript +of my speech, which I did not miss until it was +nearly time to speak, when I told a lady who sat by my +side that our friend had forgotten to give me my manu<a name="Page_417"></a>script. +She went at once to her and asked for it. +She remembered taking it, but what she had done +with it she did not know. It was suggested that +she might have dropped it in alighting from the carriage. +And lo! they found it lying in the gutter. As +the ground was frozen hard it was not even soiled. +When I learned of my narrow escape, I trembled, for I +had not prepared any train of thought for extemporaneous +use. I should have been obliged to talk when +my turn came, and if inspired by the audience or the +good angels, might have done well, or might have failed +utterly. The moral of this episode is, hold on to your +manuscript.</p> +<p>Owing to the illness of my son-in-law, Frank E. +Lawrence, he and my daughter went to California +to see if the balmy air of San Diego would restore his +health, and so we gave up housekeeping in Omaha, and, +on April 20, 1889, in company with my eldest son I returned +East and spent the summer at Hempstead, Long +Island, with my son Gerrit and his wife.</p> +<p>We found Hempstead a quiet, old Dutch town, undisturbed +by progressive ideas. Here I made the acquaintance +of Chauncey C. Parsons and wife, formerly of +Boston, who were liberal in their ideas on most questions. +Mrs. Parsons and I attended one of the Seidl +club meetings at Coney Island, where Seidl was then +giving some popular concerts. The club was composed +of two hundred women, to whom I spoke for an hour in +the dining room of the hotel. With the magnificent +ocean views, the grand concerts, and the beautiful +women, I passed two very charming days by the seaside.</p> +<p>My son Henry had given me a phaeton, low and easy +as a cradle, and I enjoyed many drives about Long +<a name="Page_418"></a>Island. We went to Bryant's home on the north +side, +several times, and in imagination I saw the old poet in +the various shady nooks, inditing his lines of love and +praise of nature in all her varying moods. Walking +among the many colored, rustling leaves in the dark +days of November, I could easily enter into his thought +as he penned these lines:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"The melancholy days are come, the saddest of the year,</p> +<p>Of wailing winds, and naked woods, and meadows brown and sear.</p> +<p>Heaped in the hollows of the grove, the autumn leaves lie dead;</p> +<p>They rustle to the eddying gust, and to the rabbit's tread."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>In September, 1889, my daughter, Mrs. Stanton Lawrence, +came East to attend a school of physical culture, +and my other daughter, Mrs. Stanton Blatch, +came from England to enjoy one of our bracing winters. +Unfortunately we had rain instead of snow, and fogs +instead of frost. However, we had a pleasant reunion +at Hempstead. After a few days in and about New +York visiting friends, we went to Geneva and spent +several weeks in the home of my cousin, the daughter of +Gerrit Smith.</p> +<p>She and I have been most faithful, devoted friends all +our lives, and regular correspondents for more than +fifty years. In the family circle we are ofttimes referred +to as "Julius" and "Johnson." These euphonious +names originated in this way: When the Christy +Minstrels first appeared, we went one evening to hear +them. On returning home we amused our seniors with, +as they said, a capital rehearsal. The wit and philosopher +of the occasion were called, respectively, Julius +and Johnson; so we took their parts and reproduced all +the bright, humorous remarks they made. The next +morning as we appeared at the breakfast table, Cousin +<a name="Page_419"></a>Gerrit Smith, in his deep, rich voice said: +"Good-morning, +Julius and Johnson," and he kept it up the few days +we were in Albany together. One after another our +relatives adopted the pseudonyms, and Mrs. Miller has +been "Julius" and I "Johnson" ever since.</p> +<p>From Geneva we went to Buffalo, but, as I had a bad +cold and a general feeling of depression, I decided to +go to the Dansville Sanatorium and see what Doctors +James and Kate Jackson could do for me. I was there +six weeks and tried all the rubbings, pinchings, steamings; +the Swedish movements of the arms, hands, legs, +feet; dieting, massage, electricity, and, though I succeeded +in throwing off only five pounds of flesh, yet I +felt like a new being. It is a charming place to be in—the +home is pleasantly situated and the scenery very +fine. The physicians are all genial, and a cheerful +atmosphere pervades the whole establishment.</p> +<p>As Christmas was at hand, the women were all half +crazy about presents, and while good Doctors James and +Kate were doing all in their power to cure the nervous +affections of their patients, they would thwart the +treatment by sitting in the parlor with the thermometer +at seventy-two degrees, embroidering all kinds of +fancy patterns,—some on muslin, some on satin, and +some with colored worsteds on canvas,—inhaling the +poisonous dyes, straining the optic nerves, counting +threads and stitches, hour after hour, until utterly exhausted. +I spoke to one poor victim of the fallacy of +Christmas presents, and of her injuring her health in +such useless employment. "What can I do?" she +replied, "I must make presents and cannot afford to buy +them." "Do you think," said I, "any of your friends +would enjoy a present you made at the risk of your +<a name="Page_420"></a>health? I do not think there is any 'must' in +the +matter. I never feel that I must give presents, and +never want any, especially from those who make some +sacrifice to give them." This whole custom of presents +at Christmas, New Year's, and at weddings has come to +be a bore, a piece of hypocrisy leading to no end of +unhappiness. I do not know a more pitiful sight than +to see a woman tatting, knitting, embroidering—working +cats on the toe of some slipper, or tulips on an +apron. The amount of nervous force that is expended +in this way is enough to make angels weep. The necessary +stitches to be taken in every household are quite +enough without adding fancy work.</p> +<p>From Dansville my daughters and I went on to +Washington to celebrate the seventieth birthday of +Miss Anthony, who has always been to them as a second +mother. Mrs. Blatch made a speech at the celebration, +and Mrs. Lawrence gave a recitation. First +came a grand supper at the Riggs House. The +dining room was beautifully decorated; in fact, Mr. +and Mrs. Spofford spared no pains to make the occasion +one long to be remembered. May Wright Sewall +was the mistress of ceremonies. She read the toasts +and called on the different speakers. Phoebe Couzins, +Rev. Anna Shaw, Isabella Beecher Hooker, Matilda +Joslyn Gage, Clara B. Colby, Senator Blair of +New Hampshire, and many others responded. I am +ashamed to say that we kept up the festivities till after +two o'clock. Miss Anthony, dressed in dark velvet and +point lace, spoke at the close with great pathos. Those +of us who were there will not soon forget February 15, +1890.</p> +<p>After speaking before committees of the Senate and +<a name="Page_421"></a>House, I gave the opening address at the annual +convention. +Mrs. Stanton Blatch spoke a few minutes on +the suffrage movement in England, after which we hurried +off to New York, and went on board the <i>Aller</i>, one +of the North German Lloyd steamers, bound for Southampton. +At the ship we found Captain Milinowski +and his wife and two of my sons waiting our arrival. +As we had eighteen pieces of baggage it took Mrs. +Blatch some time to review them. My phaeton, +which we decided to take, filled six boxes. An +easy carriage for two persons is not common in England. +The dogcarts prevail, the most uncomfortable +vehicles one can possibly use. Why some of our +Americans drive in those uncomfortable carts is a +question. I think it is because they are "so English." +The only reason the English use them is because +they are cheap. The tax on two wheels is one-half what +it is on four, and in England all carriages are taxed. +Before we Americans adopt fashions because they are +English, we had better find out the <i>raison d'être</i> for +their existence.</p> +<p>We had a very pleasant, smooth voyage, unusually +so for blustering February and March. As I dislike +close staterooms, I remained in the ladies' saloon night +and day, sleeping on a sofa. After a passage of eleven +days we landed at Southampton, March 2, 1890. It +was a beautiful moonlight night and we had a pleasant +ride on the little tug to the wharf. We reached Basingstoke +at eleven o'clock, found the family well and all +things in order.</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a> +<h2><a name="Page_422"></a>CHAPTER XXVI.</h2> +<h2>MY LAST VISIT TO ENGLAND.</h2> +<br> +<p>As soon as we got our carriage put together Hattie +and I drove out every day, as the roads in England are +in fine condition all the year round. We had lovely +weather during the spring, but the summer was wet +and cold. With reading, writing, going up to London, +and receiving visitors, the months flew by without +our accomplishing half the work we proposed.</p> +<p>As my daughter was a member of the Albemarle +Club, we invited several friends to dine with us +there at different times. There we had a long talk +with Mr. Stead, the editor of the <i>Pall Mall Gazette</i>, on +his position in regard to Russian affairs, "The Deceased +Wife's Sister Bill," and the divorce laws of England. +Mr. Stead is a fluent talker as well as a good writer. +He is the leader of the social purity movement in England. +The wisdom of his course toward Sir Charles +Dilke and Mr. Parnell was questioned by many; but +there is a touch of the religious fanatic in Mr. Stead, as +in many of his followers.</p> +<p>There were several problems in social ethics that +deeply stirred the English people in the year of our +Lord 1890. One was Charles Stewart Parnell's platonic +friendship with Mrs. O'Shea, and the other was the +Lord Chancellor's decision in the case of Mrs. Jackson. +The pulpit, the press, and the people vied with each +<a name="Page_423"></a>other in trying to dethrone Mr. Parnell as the +great +Irish leader, but the united forces did not succeed in +destroying his self-respect, nor in hounding him out of +the British Parliament, though, after a brave and protracted +resistance on his part, they did succeed in +hounding him into the grave.</p> +<p>It was pitiful to see the Irish themselves, misled by +a hypocritical popular sentiment in England, turn +against their great leader, the only one they had had +for half a century who was able to keep the Irish question +uppermost in the House of Commons year after +year. The course of events since his death has proved +the truth of what he told them, to wit: that there was no +sincerity in the interest English politicians manifested +in the question of Home Rule, and that the debates on +that point would cease as soon as it was no longer +forced on their consideration. And now when they +have succeeded in killing their leader, they begin to +realize their loss. The question evolved through the +ferment of social opinions was concisely stated, thus: +"Can a man be a great leader, a statesman, a general, +an admiral, a learned chief justice, a trusted lawyer, or +skillful physician, if he has ever broken the Seventh +Commandment?"</p> +<p>I expressed my opinion in the <i>Westminster Review</i>, at +the time, in the affirmative. Mrs. Jacob Bright, Mrs. +Ellen Battelle Dietrick of Boston, Kate Field, in her +<i>Washington</i>, agreed with me. Many other women +spoke out promptly in the negative, and with a bitterness +against those who took the opposite view that was +lamentable.</p> +<p>The Jackson case was a profitable study, as it brought +out other questions of social ethics, as well as points of +<a name="Page_424"></a>law which were ably settled by the Lord +Chancellor. +It seems that immediately after Mr. and Mrs. Jackson +were married, the groom was compelled to go to Australia. +After two years he returned and claimed his +bride, but in the interval she felt a growing aversion +and determined not to live with him. As she would not +even see him, with the assistance of friends he kidnaped +her one day as she was coming out of church, +and carried her to his home, where he kept her under +surveillance until her friends, with a writ of <i>habeas +corpus</i>, compelled him to bring her into court. The +popular idea "based on the common law of England," +was, that the husband had this absolute right. +The lower court, in harmony with this idea, maintained +the husband's right, and remanded her to his keeping, +but the friends appealed to the higher court and the +Lord Chancellor reversed the decision.</p> +<p>With regard to the right so frequently claimed, giving +husbands the power to seize, imprison, and chastise +their wives, he said: "I am of the opinion that no such +right exists in law. I am of the opinion that no such +right ever did exist in law. I say that no English subject +has the right to imprison another English subject, +whether his wife or not." Through this decision the +wife walked out of the court a free woman. The passage +of the Married Women's Property Bill in England +in 1882 was the first blow at the old idea of +coverture, giving to wives their rights of property, +the full benefit of which they are yet to realize when +clearer-minded men administer the laws. The decision +of the Lord Chancellor, rendered March 18, 1891, +declaratory of the personal rights of married women, is +a still more important blow by just so much as the +<a name="Page_425"></a>rights of person are more sacred than the rights +of +property.</p> +<p>One hundred years ago, Lord Chief Justice Mansfield +gave his famous decision in the Somerset case, +"That no slave could breathe on British soil," and the +slave walked out of court a free man. The decision of +the Lord Chancellor, in the Jackson case, is far more +important, more momentous in its consequences, as it +affects not only one race but one-half of the entire +human family. From every point of view this +is the greatest legal decision of the century. Like +the great Chief Justice of the last century, the Lord +Chancellor, with a clearer vision than those about +him, rises into a purer atmosphere of thought, and +vindicates the eternal principles of justice and the dignity +of British law, by declaring all statutes that make +wives the bond slaves of their husbands, obsolete.</p> +<p>How long will it be in our Republic before some man +will arise, great enough to so interpret our National +Constitution as to declare that women, as citizens of the +United States, cannot be governed by laws in the +making of which they have no part? It is not Constitutional +amendments nor statute laws we need, +but judges on the bench of our Supreme Court, +who, in deciding great questions of human rights, shall +be governed by the broad principles of justice rather +than precedent. One interesting feature in the trial of +the Jackson case, was that both Lady Coleridge and +the wife of the Lord Chancellor were seated on the +bench, and evidently much pleased with the decision.</p> +<p>It is difficult to account for the fact that, while +women of the highest classes in England take the deepest +interest in politics and court decisions, American +<a name="Page_426"></a>women of wealth and position are wholly +indifferent to +all public matters. While English women take an active +part in elections, holding meetings and canvassing +their districts, here, even the wives of judges, governors, +and senators speak with bated breath of political +movements, and seem to feel that a knowledge of laws +and constitutions would hopelessly unsex them.</p> +<p>Toward the last of April, with my little granddaughter +and her nurse, I went down to Bournemouth, +one of the most charming watering places in England. +We had rooms in the Cliff House with windows opening +on the balcony, where we had a grand view of the +bay and could hear the waves dashing on the shore. +While Nora, with her spade and pail, played all day in +the sands, digging trenches and filling them with +water, I sat on the balcony reading "Diana of the +Crossways," and Bjornson's last novel, "In God's +Way," both deeply interesting. As all the characters +in the latter come to a sad end, I could not see the significance +of the title. If they walked in God's way their +career should have been successful.</p> +<p>I took my first airing along the beach in an invalid +chair. These bath chairs are a great feature in all the +watering places of England. They are drawn by a man +or a donkey. The first day I took a man, an old sailor, +who talked incessantly of his adventures, stopping to +rest every five minutes, dissipating all my pleasant +reveries, and making an unendurable bore of himself. +The next day I told the proprietor to get me a man +who would not talk all the time. The man he supplied +jogged along in absolute silence; he would not even +answer my questions. Supposing he had his orders to +keep profound silence, after one or two attempts I said +<a name="Page_427"></a>nothing. When I returned home, the proprietor +asked +me how I liked this man. "Ah!" I said, "he was indeed +silent and would not even answer a question nor +go anywhere I told him; still I liked him better than +the talkative man." He laughed heartily and said: +"This man is deaf and dumb. I thought I would make +sure that you should not be bored." I joined in the +laugh and said: "Well, to-morrow get me a man who +can hear but cannot speak, if you can find one constructed +on that plan."</p> +<p>Bournemouth is noteworthy now as the burial place +of Mary Wolstonecraft and the Shelleys. I went to +see the monument that had been recently reared to their +memory. On one side is the following inscription: +"William Godwin, author of 'Political Justice,' born +March 3rd, 1756, died April 7th, 1836. Mary Wolstonecraft +Godwin, author of the 'Vindication of the Rights +of Women,' born April 27th, 1759, died September 10th, +1797." These remains were brought here, in 1851, +from the churchyard of St. Pancras, London. On the +other side are the following inscriptions: "Mary Wolstonecraft +Godwin, daughter of William Godwin and +widow of the late Percy Bysshe Shelley, born August +30th, 1797, died February 1st, 1851. Percy Florence +Shelley, son of Percy Shelley and Mary Wolstonecraft, +third baronet, born November 12th, 1819, died December +5th, 1889. "In Christ's Church, six miles from +Bournemouth, is a bas-relief in memory of the great +poet. He is represented, dripping with seaweed, in the +arms of the Angel of Death.</p> +<p>As I sat on my balcony hour after hour, reading and +thinking of the Shelleys, watching the changing hues +of the clouds and the beautiful bay, and listening to the +<a name="Page_428"></a>sad monotone of the waves, these sweet lines of +Whittier's +came to my mind:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Its waves are kneeling on the strand,</p> +<p>As kneels the human knee,—</p> +<p>Their white locks bowing to the sand,</p> +<p>The priesthood of the sea!</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"The blue sky is the temple's arch,</p> +<p>Its transept earth and air,</p> +<p>The music of its starry march</p> +<p>The chorus of a prayer."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>American letters, during this sojourn abroad, told of +many losses, one after another, from our family circle; +nine passed away within two years. The last was my +sister Mrs. Bayard, who died in May, 1891. She was +the oldest of our family, and had always been a second +mother to her younger sisters, and her house our second +home.</p> +<p>The last of June my son Theodore's wife and daughter +came over from France to spend a month with us. +Lisette and Nora, about the same size, played and quarreled +most amusingly together. They spent their +mornings in the kindergarten school, and the afternoons +with their pony, but rainy days I was impressed +into their service to dress dolls and tell stories. I had +the satisfaction to hear them say that their dolls were +never so prettily dressed before, and that my stories +were better than any in the books. As I composed the +wonderful yarns as I went along, I used to get very +tired, and sometimes, when I heard the little feet coming, +I would hide, but they would hunt until they found +me. When my youngest son was ten years old and +could read for himself, I graduated in story telling, having +practiced in that line twenty-one years. I vowed +<a name="Page_429"></a>that I would expend no more breath in that +direction, +but the eager face of a child asking for stories is too +much for me, and my vow has been often broken. All +the time I was in England Nora claimed the twilight +hour, and, in France, Lisette was equally pertinacious. +When Victor Hugo grew tired telling his grandchildren +stories, he would wind up with the story of an old gentleman +who, after a few interesting experiences, took up +his evening paper and began to read aloud. The children +would listen a few moments and then, one by one, +slip out of the room. Longfellow's old gentleman, +after many exciting scenes in his career, usually +stretched himself on the lounge and feigned sleep. But +grandmothers are not allowed to shelter themselves +with such devices; they are required to spin on until the +bedtime really arrives.</p> +<p>On July 16, one of the hottest days of the season, +Mrs. Jacob Bright and daughter, Herbert Burroughs, +and Mrs. Parkhurst came down from London, and we +sat out of doors, taking our luncheon under the trees +and discussing theosophy. Later in the month +Hattie and I went to Yorkshire to visit Mr. and +Mrs. Scatcherd at Morley Hall, and there spent several +days. We had a prolonged discussion on personal +rights. One side was against all governmental interference, +such as compulsory education and the protection +of children against cruel parents; the other side +in favor of state interference that protected the individual +in the enjoyment of life, liberty, and happiness. +I took the latter position. Many parents are not fit +to have the control of children, hence the State should +see that they are sheltered, fed, clothed, and educated. +It is far better for the State to make good citizens of +<a name="Page_430"></a>its children in the beginning, than, in the end, +to be compelled +to care for them as criminals.</p> +<p>While in the north of England we spent a few days at +Howard Castle, the summer residence of Lord and +Lady Carlisle and their ten children. So large a family +in high life is unusual. As I had known Lord and Lady +Amberley in America, when they visited this country in +1867, I enjoyed meeting other members of their family. +Lady Carlisle is in favor of woman suffrage and frequently +speaks in public. She is a woman of great force +of character, and of very generous impulses. She is +trying to do her duty in sharing the good things of life +with the needy. The poor for miles round often have +picnics in her park, and large numbers of children from +manufacturing towns spend weeks with her cottage +tenants at her expense. Lord Carlisle is an artist and +a student. As he has a poetical temperament and is +aesthetic in all his tastes, Lady Carlisle is the business +manager of the estate. She is a practical +woman with immense executive ability. The castle +with its spacious dining hall and drawing rooms, with +its chapel, library, galleries of paintings and statuary, +its fine outlook, extensive gardens and lawns was +well worth seeing. We enjoyed our visit very much +and discussed every imaginable subject.</p> +<p>When we returned to Basingstoke we had a visit +from Mrs. Cobb, the wife of a member of Parliament, +and sister-in-law of Karl Pearson, whose lectures on +woman I had enjoyed so much. It was through reading +his work, "The Ethic of Free Thought," that the Matriarchate +made such a deep impression on my mind and +moved me to write a tract on the subject. People who +have neither read nor thought on this point, question +<a name="Page_431"></a>the facts as stated by Bachofen, Morgan, and +Wilkeson; +but their truth, I think, cannot be questioned. +They seem so natural in the chain of reasoning +and the progress of human development. Mrs. Cobb +did a very good thing a few days before visiting +us. At a great meeting called to promote Mr. Cobb's +election, John Morley spoke. He did not even say +"Ladies and gentlemen" in starting, nor make the +slightest reference to the existence of such beings +as women. When he had finished, Mrs. Cobb +arose mid great cheering and criticised his speech, +making some quotations from his former speeches +of a very liberal nature. The audience laughed and +cheered, fully enjoying the rebuke. The next day in +his speech he remembered his countrywomen, and on +rising said, "Ladies and gentlemen."</p> +<p>During August, 1891, I was busy getting ready for +my voyage, as I was to sail on the <i>Ems</i> on August 23. +Although I had crossed the ocean six times in the prior +ten years I dreaded the voyage more than words can +describe. The last days were filled with sadness, in +parting with those so dear to me in foreign countries—especially +those curly-headed little girls, so bright, so +pretty, so winning in all their ways. Hattie and Theodore +went with me from Southampton in the little tug +to the great ship <i>Ems</i>. It was very hard for us to say +the last farewell, but we all tried to be as brave as +possible.</p> +<p>We had a rough voyage, but I was not seasick one +moment. I was up and dressed early in the morning, +and on deck whenever the weather permitted. I made +many pleasant acquaintances with whom I played chess +and whist; wrote letters to all my foreign friends, ready +<a name="Page_432"></a>to mail on landing; read the "Egotist," by +George +Meredith, and Ibsen's plays as translated by my friend +Frances Lord. I had my own private stewardess, a +nice German woman who could speak English. She +gave me most of my meals on deck or in the ladies' +saloon, and at night she would open the porthole two or +three times and air our stateroom; that made the nights +endurable. The last evening before landing we got up +an entertainment with songs, recitations, readings, and +speeches. I was invited to preside and introduce the +various performers. We reached Sandy Hook the +evening of the 29th day of August and lay there all +night, and the next morning we sailed up our beautiful +harbor, brilliant with the rays of the rising sun.</p> +<p>Being fortunate in having children in both hemispheres, +here, too, I found a son and daughter +waiting to welcome me to my native land. Our +chief business for many weeks was searching for an +inviting apartment where my daughter, Mrs. Stanton +Lawrence, my youngest son, Bob, and I could set up +our family altar and sing our new psalm of life together. +After much weary searching we found an apartment. +Having always lived in a large house in the country, the +quarters seemed rather contracted at first, but I soon +realized the immense saving in labor and expense in +having no more room than is absolutely necessary, and +all on one floor. To be transported from the street to +your apartment in an elevator in half a minute, to have +all your food and fuel sent to your kitchen by an elevator +in the rear, to have your rooms all warmed with +no effort of your own, seemed like a realization of some +fairy dream. With an extensive outlook of the heavens +above, of the Park and the Boulevard beneath, I had a +<a name="Page_433"></a>feeling of freedom, and with a short flight of +stairs to +the roof (an easy escape in case of fire), of safety, too.</p> +<p>No sooner was I fully established in my eyrie, than +I was summoned to Rochester, by my friend Miss Anthony, +to fill an appointment she had made for me +with Miss Adelaide Johnson, the artist from Washington, +who was to idealize Miss Anthony and myself in +marble for the World's Fair. I found my friend demurely +seated in her mother's rocking-chair hemming +table linen and towels for her new home, anon bargaining +with butchers, bakers, and grocers, making cakes +and puddings, talking with enthusiasm of palatable +dishes and the beauties of various articles of furniture +that different friends had presented her. All +there was to remind one of the "Napoleon of the +Suffrage Movement" was a large escritoire covered +with documents in the usual state of confusion—Miss +Anthony never could keep her papers in order. In +search of any particular document she roots out every +drawer and pigeon hole, although her mother's little +spinning wheel stands right beside her desk, a constant +reminder of all the domestic virtues of the good housewife, +with whom "order" is of the utmost importance +and "heaven's first law." The house was exquisitely +clean and orderly, the food appetizing, the conversation +pleasant and profitable, and the atmosphere genial.</p> +<p>A room in an adjoining house was assigned to Miss +Johnson and myself, where a strong pedestal and huge +mass of clay greeted us. And there, for nearly a month, +I watched the transformation of that clay into human +proportions and expressions, until it gradually emerged +with the familiar facial outlines ever so dear to one's self. +Sitting there four or five hours every day I used to get +<a name="Page_434"></a>very sleepy, so my artist arranged for a series +of little +naps. When she saw the crisis coming she would say: +"I will work now for a time on the ear, the nose, or +the hair, as you must be wide awake when I am trying +to catch the expression." I rewarded her for her patience +and indulgence by summoning up, when awake, +the most intelligent and radiant expression that I could +command. As Miss Johnson is a charming, cultured +woman, with liberal ideas and brilliant in conversation, +she readily drew out all that was best in me.</p> +<p>Before I left Rochester, Miss Anthony and her sister +Mary gave a reception to me at their house. As +some of the professors and trustees of the Rochester +University were there, the question of co-education was +freely discussed, and the authorities urged to open the +doors of the University to the daughters of the people. +It was rather aggravating to contemplate those fine +buildings and grounds, while every girl in that city must +go abroad for higher education. The wife of President +Hill of the University had just presented him with twins, +a girl and a boy, and he facetiously remarked, "that +if the Creator could risk placing sexes in such near relations, +he thought they might with safety walk on +the same campus and pursue the same curriculum +together."</p> +<p>Miss Anthony and I went to Geneva the next day to +visit Mrs. Miller and to meet, by appointment, Mrs. Eliza +Osborne, the niece of Lucretia Mott, and eldest daughter +of Martha C. Wright. We anticipated a merry +meeting, but Miss Anthony and I were so tired that we +no doubt appeared stupid. In a letter to Mrs. Miller +afterward, Mrs. Osborne inquired why I was "so +solemn." As I pride myself on being impervious to +<a name="Page_435"></a>fatigue or disease, I could not own up to any +disability, +so I turned the tables on her in the following letter:</p> +<div class="blkquot"> +<p style="text-align: right;">"New York, 26 West 61st Street,</p> +<p style="text-align: right;">November 12, 1891.</p> +<p>"Dear Eliza:</p> +<p>"In a recent letter to Mrs. Miller, speaking of the +time when we last met, you say, 'Why was Mrs. Stanton +so solemn?' to which I reply: Ever since an old +German emperor issued an edict, ordering all the women +under that flag to knit when walking on the highway, +when selling apples in the market place, when sitting in +the parks, because 'to keep women out of mischief their +hands must be busy,' ever since I read that, I have felt +'solemn' whenever I have seen any daughters of +our grand Republic knitting, tatting, embroidering, or +occupied with any of the ten thousand digital absurdities +that fill so large a place in the lives of Eve's +daughters.</p> +<p>"Looking forward to the scintillations of wit, the +philosophical researches, the historical traditions, the +scientific discoveries, the astronomical explorations, +the mysteries of theosophy, palmistry, mental science, +the revelations of the unknown world where angels and +devils do congregate, looking forward to discussions of +all these grand themes, in meeting the eldest daughter +of David and Martha Wright, the niece of Lucretia +Mott, the sister-in-law of William Lloyd Garrison, a +queenly-looking woman five feet eight in height, and +well proportioned, with glorious black eyes, rivaling +even De Staël's in power and pathos, one can readily +imagine the disappointment I experienced when such +a woman pulled a cotton wash rag from her pocket and +<a name="Page_436"></a>forthwith began to knit with bowed head. Fixing +her +eyes and concentrating her thoughts on a rag one foot +square; it was impossible for conversation to rise above +the wash-rag level! It was enough to make the most +aged optimist 'solemn' to see such a wreck of glorious +womanhood.</p> +<p>"And, still worse, she not only knit steadily, hour +after hour, but she bestowed the sweetest words of encouragement +on a young girl from the Pacific Coast, +who was embroidering rosebuds on another rag, the +very girl I had endeavored to rescue from the maelstrom +of embroidery, by showing her the unspeakable +folly of giving her optic nerves to such base uses, when +they were designed by the Creator to explore the planetary +world, with chart and compass to guide mighty +ships across the sea, to lead the sons of Adam with divinest +love from earth to heaven. Think of the great +beseeching optic nerves and muscles by which we express +our admiration of all that is good and glorious in +earth and heaven, being concentrated on a cotton wash +rag! Who can wonder that I was 'solemn' that day! +I made my agonized protest on the spot, but it fell unheeded, +and with satisfied sneer Eliza knit on, and +the young Californian continued making the rosebuds. +I gazed into space, and, when alone, wept for my degenerate +countrywoman. I not only was 'solemn' +that day, but I am profoundly 'solemn' whenever I +think of that queenly woman and that cotton wash rag. +(One can buy a whole dozen of these useful appliances, +with red borders and fringed, for twenty-five cents.) +Oh, Eliza, I beseech you, knit no more!</p> +<p style="margin-left: 40px;">"Affectionately yours,</p> +<p style="margin-left: 80px;">"Elizabeth Cady Stanton."</p> +</div> +<p><a name="Page_437"></a>To this Mrs. Osborne sent the following reply:</p> +<div class="blkquot"> +<p>"Dear Mrs. Stanton:</p> +</div> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"In your skit</p> +<p>Against your sisterhood who knit,</p> +<p>Or useful make their fingers,</p> +<p>I wonder if—deny it not—</p> +<p>The habit of Lucretia Mott</p> +<p>Within your memory lingers!</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"In retrospective vision bright,</p> +<p>Can you recall dear Martha Wright</p> +<p>Without her work or knitting?</p> +<p>The needles flying in her hands,</p> +<p>On washing rags or baby's bands,</p> +<p>Or other work as fitting?</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"I cannot think they thought the less,</p> +<p>Or ceased the company to bless</p> +<p>With conversation's riches,</p> +<p>Because they thus improved their time,</p> +<p>And never deemed it was a crime</p> +<p>To fill the hours with stitches.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"They even used to preach and plan</p> +<p>To spread the fashion, so that man</p> +<p>Might have this satisfaction;</p> +<p>Instead of idling as men do,</p> +<p>With nervous meddling fingers too,</p> +<p>Why not mate talk with action?</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"But as a daughter and a niece,</p> +<p>I pride myself on every piece</p> +<p>Of handiwork created;</p> +<p>While reveling in social chat,</p> +<p>Or listening to gossip flat,</p> +<p>My gain is unabated.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"That German emperor you scorn,</p> +<p>Seems to my mind a monarch born,</p> +<p>Worthy to lead a column;</p> +<a name="Page_438"></a> +<p>I'll warrant he could talk and work,</p> +<p>And, neither being used to shirk,</p> +<p>Was rarely very solemn.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"I could say more upon this head,</p> +<p>But must, before I go to bed.</p> +<p>Your idle precepts mocking,</p> +<p>Get out my needle and my yarn</p> +<p>And, caring not a single darn.</p> +<p>Just finish up this stocking."</p> +</div> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a> +<h2><a name="Page_439"></a>CHAPTER XXVII.</h2> +<h2>SIXTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE CLASS OF 1832—THE WOMAN'S BIBLE.</h2> +<br> +<p>I returned from Geneva to New York city in time to +celebrate my seventy-sixth birthday with my children. +I had traveled about constantly for the last twenty years +in France, England, and my own country, and had so +many friends and correspondents, and pressing invitations +to speak in clubs and conventions, that now I decided +to turn over a new leaf and rest in an easy-chair. +But so complete a change in one's life could not be +easily accomplished. In spite of my resolution to +abide in seclusion, my daughter and I were induced to +join the Botta Club, which was to meet once a month, +alternately, at the residences of Mrs. Moncure D. Conway +and Mrs. Abby Sage Richardson. Though composed +of ladies and gentlemen it proved dull and +unprofitable. As the subject for discussion was not announced +until each meeting, no one was prepared with +any well-digested train of thought. It was also decided +to avoid all questions about which there might +be grave differences of opinion. This negative position +reminded me of a book on etiquette which I read +in my young days, in which gentlemen were warned, +"In the presence of ladies discuss neither politics, religion, +nor social duties, but confine yourself to art, +poetry, and abstract questions which women cannot +understand. The less they know of a subject the more +<a name="Page_440"></a>respectfully they will listen." This club was +named in +honor of Mrs. Botta, formerly Miss Anne Lynch, whose +drawing room for many years was the social center of +the literati of New York.</p> +<p>On January 16, 1892, we held the Annual Suffrage +Convention in Washington, and, as usual, had a hearing +before the Congressional Committee. My speech on the +"Solitude of Self" was well received and was published +in the Congressional Record. The <i>Woman's Tribune</i> +struck off many hundreds of copies and it was extensively +circulated.</p> +<p>Notwithstanding my determination to rest, I spoke +to many clubs, wrote articles for papers and magazines, +and two important leaflets, one on "Street Cleaning," +another on "Opening the Chicago Exposition on Sunday." +As Sunday was the only day the masses could +visit that magnificent scene, with its great lake, extensive +park, artificial canals, and beautiful buildings, I +strongly advocated its being open on that day. One +hundred thousand religious bigots petitioned Congress +to make no appropriation for this magnificent Exposition, +unless the managers pledged themselves to close +the gates on Sunday, and hide this vision of beauty +from the common people. Fortunately, this time a +sense of justice outweighed religious bigotry. I sent +my leaflets to every member of Congress and of the +State legislatures, and to the managers of the Exposition, +and made it a topic of conversation at every opportunity. +The park and parts of the Exposition were kept +open on Sunday, but some of the machinery was stopped +as a concession to narrow Christian sects.</p> +<p>In June, 1892, at the earnest solicitation of Mrs. +Russell Sage, I attended the dedication of the Gurley +<a name="Page_441"></a>Memorial Building, presented to the Emma Willard +Seminary, at Troy, New York, and made the following +address:</p> +<div class="blkquot"> +<p>"MRS. PRESIDENT, MEMBERS OF THE ALUMNAE:</p> +<p>"It is just sixty years since the class of '32, to which +I belonged, celebrated a commencement in this same +room. This was the great event of the season to many +families throughout this State. Parents came from all +quarters; the <i>élite</i> of Troy and Albany assembled here. +Principals from other schools, distinguished legislators, +and clergymen all came to hear girls scan Latin verse, +solve problems in Euclid, and read their own compositions +in a promiscuous assemblage. A long line of +teachers anxiously waited the calling of their classes, +and over all, our queenly Madame Willard presided with +royal grace and dignity. Two hundred girls in gala +attire, white dresses, bright sashes, and coral ornaments, +with their curly hair, rosy cheeks, and sparkling eyes, +flitted to and fro, some rejoicing that they had passed +through their ordeal, some still on the tiptoe of expectation, +some laughing, some in tears—altogether a most +beautiful and interesting picture.</p> +<p>"Conservatives then, as now, thought the result +of the higher education of girls would be to destroy +their delicacy and refinement. But as the graduates +of the Troy Seminary were never distinguished in after +life for the lack of these feminine virtues, the most timid, +even, gradually accepted the situation and trusted their +daughters with Mrs. Willard. But that noble woman +endured for a long period the same ridicule and persecution +that women now do who take an onward step in +the march of progress.</p> +<p>"I see around me none of the familiar faces that +<a name="Page_442"></a>greeted my coming or said farewell in parting. I +do +not know that one of my classmates still lives. Friendship +with those I knew and loved best lasted but a few +years, then our ways in life parted. I should not know +where to find one now, and if I did, probably our ideas +would differ on every subject, as I have wandered in +latitudes beyond the prescribed sphere of women. I suppose +it is much the same with many of you—the familiar +faces are all gone, gone to the land of shadows, and I +hope of sunshine too, where we in turn will soon follow. +"And yet, though we who are left are strangers to +one another, we have the same memories of the past, of +the same type of mischievous girls and staid teachers, +though with different names. The same long, bare +halls and stairs, the recitation rooms with the same old +blackboards and lumps of chalk taken for generation +after generation, I suppose, from the same pit; the dining +room, with its pillars inconveniently near some of +the tables, with its thick, white crockery and black-handled +knives, and viands that never suited us, because, +forsooth, we had boxes of delicacies from home, or we +had been out to the baker's or confectioner's and bought +pies and cocoanut cakes, candy and chewing gum, all +forbidden, but that added to the relish. There, too, +were the music rooms, with their old, second-hand +pianos, some with rattling keys and tinny sound, on +which we were supposed to play our scales and exercises +for an hour, though we often slyly indulged in the +'Russian March,' 'Napoleon Crossing the Rhine,' or +our national airs, when, as slyly, Mr. Powell, our music +teacher, a bumptious Englishman, would softly open +the door and say in a stern voice, 'Please practice the +lesson I just gave you!'</p> +<p>"<a name="Page_443"></a>Our chief delight was to break the rules, +but we did +not like to be caught at it. As we were forbidden to +talk with our neighbors in study hours, I frequently +climbed on top of my bureau to talk through a pipe +hole with a daughter of Judge Howell of Canandaigua. +We often met afterward, laughed and talked over the +old days, and kept our friendship bright until the day +of her death. Once while rooming with Harriet Hudson, +a sister of Mrs. John Willard, I was moved to a +very erratic performance. Miss Theresa Lee had rung +the bell for retiring, and had taken her rounds, as usual, +to see that the lights were out and all was still, when I +peeped out of my door, and seeing the bell at the head +of the stairs nearby, I gave it one kick and away it went +rolling and ringing to the bottom. The halls were instantly +filled with teachers and scholars, all in white +robes, asking what was the matter. Harriet and I ran +around questioning the rest, and what a frolic we had, +helter-skelter, up and down stairs, in each other's rooms, +pulling the beds to pieces, changing girls' clothes from +one room to another, etc., etc. The hall lamps, dimly +burning, gave us just light enough for all manner of +depredations without our being recognized, hence +the unbounded latitude we all felt for mischief. In +our whole seminary course—and I was there nearly +three years—we never had such a frolic as that night. +It took all the teachers to restore order and quiet us +down again for the night. No suspicion of any irregularities +were ever attached to Harriet and myself. Our +standing for scholarship was good, hence we were supposed +to reflect all the moralities.</p> +<p>"Though strangers, we have a bond of union in all +these memories, of our bright companions, our good +<a name="Page_444"></a>teachers, who took us through the pitfalls of +logic, +rhetoric, philosophy, and the sciences, and of the noble +woman who founded the institution, and whose unselfish +devotion in the cause of education we are here to +celebrate. The name of Emma Willard is dear to all +of us; to know her was to love and venerate her. She +was not only good and gifted, but she was a beautiful +woman. She had a finely developed figure, well-shaped +head, classic features, most genial manners, and +a profound self-respect (a rare quality in woman), that +gave her a dignity truly royal in every position. +Traveling in the Old World she was noticed everywhere +as a distinguished personage. And all these gifts she +dedicated to the earnest purpose of her life, the higher +education of women.</p> +<p>"In opening this seminary she could not find young +women capable of teaching the higher branches, hence +her first necessity was to train herself. Amos B. Eaton, +who was the principal of the Rensselaer Polytechnic +School for boys here in Troy, told me Mrs. Willard +studied with him every branch he was capable of teaching, +and trained a corps of teachers and regular scholars +at the same time. She took lessons of the Professor +every evening when he had leisure, and studied half the +night the branches she was to teach the next day, thus +keeping ahead of her classes. Her intense earnestness +and mental grasp, the readiness with which she turned +from one subject to another, and her retentive memory +of every rule and fact he gave her, was a constant surprise +to the Professor.</p> +<p>"All her vacation she devoted to training teachers. +She was the first to suggest the normal-school system. +Remembering her deep interest in the education of +<a name="Page_445"></a>women, we can honor her in no more worthy manner +than to carry on her special lifework. As we look +around at all the educated women assembled here to-day +and try to estimate what each has done in her own +sphere of action, the schools founded, the teachers sent +forth, the inspiration given to girls in general, through +the long chain of influences started by our alma mater, +we can form some light estimate of the momentous and +far-reaching consequences of Emma Willard's life. We +have not her difficulties to overcome, her trials to endure, +but the imperative duty is laid on each of us to +finish the work she so successfully began. Schools and +colleges of a high order are now everywhere open to +women, public sentiment welcomes them to whatever +career they may desire, and our work is to help +worthy girls struggling for a higher education, by +founding scholarships in desirable institutions in every +State in the Union. The most fitting tribute we can +pay to Emma Willard is to aid in the production of a +generation of thoroughly educated women.</p> +<p>"There are two kinds of scholarships, equally desirable; +a permanent one, where the interest of a fund +from year to year will support a succession of students, +and a temporary one, to help some worthy individual +as she may require. Someone has suggested that this +association should help young girls in their primary +education. But as our public schools possess all the advantages +for a thorough education in the rudiments of +learning and are free to all, our scholarships should be +bestowed on those whose ability and earnestness in the +primary department have been proved, and whose +capacity for a higher education is fully shown.</p> +<p>"This is the best work women of wealth can do, and +<a name="Page_446"></a>I hope in the future they will endow +scholarships for +their own sex instead of giving millions of dollars to institutions +for boys, as they have done in the past. After +all the bequests women have made to Harvard see how +niggardly that institution, in its 'annex,' treats their +daughters. I once asked a wealthy lady to give a +few thousands of dollars to start a medical college +and hospital for women in New York. She said before +making bequests she always consulted her minister +and her Bible. He told her there was nothing said +in the Bible about colleges for women. I said, 'Tell him +he is mistaken. If he will turn to 2 'Chron. xxxiv. +22, he will find that when Josiah, the king, sent the +wise men to consult Huldah, the prophetess, about the +book of laws discovered in the temple, they found +Huldah in the college in Jerusalem, thoroughly well informed +on questions of state, while Shallum, her husband, +was keeper of the robes. I suppose his business +was to sew on the royal buttons.' But in spite of this +Scriptural authority, the rich lady gave thirty thousand +dollars to Princeton and never one cent for the education +of her own sex.</p> +<p>"Of all the voices to which these walls have echoed +for over half a century, how few remain to tell the +story of the early days, and when we part, how few of us +will ever meet again; but I know we shall carry with us +some new inspiration for the work that still remains for +us to do. Though many of us are old in years, we may +still be young in heart. Women trained to concentrate +all their thoughts on family life are apt to think—when +their children are grown up, their loved ones gone, their +servants trained to keep the domestic machinery in motion—that +their work in life is done, that no one needs +<a name="Page_447"></a>now their thought and care, quite forgetting +that the +hey-day of woman's life is on the shady side of fifty, +when the vital forces heretofore expended in other ways +are garnered in the brain, when their thoughts and sentiments +flow out in broader channels, when philanthropy +takes the place of family selfishness, and when from the +depths of poverty and suffering the wail of humanity +grows as pathetic to their ears as once was the cry of +their own children.</p> +<p>"Or, perhaps, the pressing cares of family life ended, +the woman may awake to some slumbering genius in +herself for art, science, or literature, with which to gild +the sunset of her life. Longfellow's beautiful poem, +'Morituri Salutamus,' written for a similar occasion +to this, is full of hope and promise for all of us. He +says:</p> +</div> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"'Something remains for us to do or dare;</p> +<p>Even the oldest tree some fruit may bear.</p> +<p>Cato learned Greek at eighty; Sophocles</p> +<p>Wrote his grand Oedipus, and Simonides</p> +<p>Bore off the prize of verse from his compeers,</p> +<p>When each had numbered more than four-score years.</p> +<p>And Theophrastus, at three-score and ten,</p> +<p>Had but begun his Characters of Men;</p> +<p>Chaucer, at Woodstock with the nightingales,</p> +<p>At sixty wrote the Canterbury Tales;</p> +<p>Goethe at Weimar, toiling to the last,</p> +<p>Completed Faust when eighty years were past.</p> +<p>These are indeed exceptions; but they show</p> +<p>How far the gulf-stream of our youth may flow</p> +<p>Into the Arctic regions of our lives,</p> +<p>Where little else than life itself survives.</p> +<p>For age is opportunity no less</p> +<p>Than youth itself, though in another dress,</p> +<p>And as the evening twilight fades away</p> +<p>The sky is filled with stars, invisible by day.'"</p> +</div> +</div> +<p><a name="Page_448"></a>On December 21, 1892, we celebrated, for the +first +time, "Foremothers' Day." Men had celebrated +"Forefathers' Day" for many years, but as women +were never invited to join in their festivities, Mrs. +Devereux Blake introduced the custom of women having +a dinner in celebration of that day. Mrs. Isabella +Beecher Hooker spent two days with me, and together +we attended the feast and made speeches. This custom +is now annually observed, and gentlemen sit in the gallery +just as ladies had done on similar occasions.</p> +<p>My son Theodore arrived from France in April, 1893, +to attend the Chicago Exposition, and spent most of +the summer with me at Glen Cove, Long Island, where +my son Gerrit and his wife were domiciled. Here we +read Captain Charles King's stories of life at military +posts, Sanborn's "Biography of Bronson Alcott," and +Lecky's "History of Rationalism."</p> +<p>Here I visited Charles A. Dana, the Nestor of journalism, +and his charming family. He lived on a beautiful +island near Glen Cove. His refined, artistic taste, +shown in his city residence in paintings, statuary, and +rare bric-a-brac, collected in his frequent travels in the +Old World, displayed itself in his island home in the +arrangement of an endless variety of trees, shrubs, and +flowers, through which you caught glimpses of the +Sound and distant shores. One seldom meets so +gifted a man as the late editor of the <i>Sun</i>. He was a +scholar, speaking several languages; an able writer and +orator, and a most genial companion in the social circle. +His wife and daughter are cultivated women. The +name of this daughter, Zoe Dana Underhill, often appears +in our popular magazines as the author of short +stories, remarkable for their vivid descriptions.</p> +<p><a name="Page_449"></a>I met Mr. Dana for the first time at the +Brook Farm +Community in 1843, in that brilliant circle of Boston +transcendentalists, who hoped in a few years to transform +our selfish, competitive civilization into a Paradise +where all the altruistic virtues might make co-operation +possible. But alas! the material at hand was not sufficiently +plastic for that higher ideal. In due time the +community dissolved and the members returned +to their ancestral spheres. Margaret Fuller, who +was a frequent visitor there, betook herself to matrimony +in sunny Italy, William Henry Channing to +the Church, Bronson Alcott to the education of the +young, Frank Cabot to the world of work, Mr. and +Mrs. Ripley to literature, and Charles A. Dana to the +press. Mr. Dana was very fortunate in his family relations. +His wife, Miss Eunice MacDaniel, and her +relatives sympathized with him in all his most liberal +opinions. During the summer at Glen Cove I had the +pleasure of several long conversations with Miss Frances +L. MacDaniel and her brother Osborne, whose wife +is the sister of Mr. Dana, and who is now assisting Miss +Prestona Mann in trying an experiment, similar to the +one at Brook Farm, in the Adirondacks.</p> +<p>Miss Anthony spent a week with us in Glen Cove. +She came to stir me up to write papers for every Congress +at the Exposition, which I did, and she read them +in the different Congresses, adding her own strong +words at the close. Mrs. Russell Sage also came +and spent a day with us to urge me to write a +paper to be read at Chicago at the Emma Willard +Reunion, which I did. A few days afterward Theodore +and I returned her visit. We enjoyed a few +hours' conversation with Mr Sage, who had made +<a name="Page_450"></a>a very generous gift of a building to the Emma +Willard +Seminary at Troy. This school was one of the first +established (1820) for girls in our State, and received an +appropriation from the New York legislature on the +recommendation of the Governor, De Witt Clinton. +Mr. Sage gave us a description that night of the time +his office was blown up with dynamite thrown by a +crank, and of his narrow escape. We found the great financier +and his wife in an unpretending cottage with a fine +outlook on the sea. Though possessed of great wealth +they set a good example of simplicity and economy, +which many extravagant people would do well to follow.</p> +<p>Having visited the World's Exposition at Chicago +and attended a course of lectures at Chautauqua, my +daughter, Mrs. Stanton Lawrence, returned to the city, +and as soon as our apartment was in order I joined her. +She had recently been appointed Director of Physical +Training at the Teachers' College in New York city. I +attended several of her exhibitions and lectures, which +were very interesting. She is doing her best to develop, +with proper exercises and sanitary dress, a new type of +womanhood.</p> +<p>My time passed pleasantly these days with a drive in +the Park and an hour in the land of Nod, also in reading +Henry George's "Progress and Poverty," William Morris +on industrial questions, Stevenson's novels, the +"Heavenly Twins," and "Marcella," and at twilight, +when I could not see to read and write, in playing and +singing the old tunes and songs I loved in my youth. +In the evening we played draughts and chess. I am +fond of all games, also of music and novels, hence the +days fly swiftly by; I am never lonely, life is ever very +sweet to me and full of interest.</p> +<p><a name="Page_451"></a>The winter of 1893-94 was full of excitement, +as the +citizens of New York were to hold a Constitutional +Convention. Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi endeavored to +rouse a new class of men and women to action in favor +of an amendment granting to women the right to vote. +Appeals were sent throughout the State, gatherings were +held in parlors, and enthusiastic meetings in Cooper +Institute and at the Savoy Hotel. My daughter, Mrs. +Stanton Blatch, who was visiting this country, took an +active part in the canvass, and made an eloquent speech +in Cooper Institute. Strange to say, some of the leading +ladies formed a strong party against the proposed +amendment and their own enfranchisement. They +were called the "Antis." This opposing organization +adopted the same plan for the campaign as those in +favor of the amendment. They issued appeals, circulated +petitions, and had hearings before the Convention.</p> +<p>Mrs. Russell Sage, Mrs. Henry M. Sanders, Mrs. Edward +Lauterbach, Mrs. Runkle, and some liberal clergymen +did their uttermost to secure the insertion of the +amendment in the proposed new constitution, but the +Committee on Suffrage of the Constitutional Convention +refused even to submit the proposed amendment +to a vote of the people, though half a million of our +most intelligent and respectable citizens had signed the +petition requesting them to do so. Joseph H. Choate +and Elihu Root did their uttermost to defeat the amendment, +and succeeded.</p> +<p>I spent the summer of 1894 with my son Gerrit, in +his home at Thomaston, Long Island. Balzac's novels, +and the "Life of Thomas Paine" by Moncure D. Conway, +with the monthly magazines and daily papers, were +my mental pabulum. My daughter, Mrs. Stanton Law<a name="Page_452"></a>rence, +returned from England in September, 1894, having +had a pleasant visit with her sister in Basingstoke. +In December Miss Anthony came, and we wrote the +woman suffrage article for the new edition of Johnson's +Cyclopedia.</p> +<p>On March 3, 1895, Lady Somerset and Miss Frances +Willard, on the eve of their departure for England, +called to see me. We discussed my project of a +"Woman's Bible." They consented to join a revising +committee, but before the committee was organized they +withdrew their names, fearing the work would be too +radical. I especially desired to have the opinions of +women from all sects, but those belonging to the orthodox +churches declined to join the committee or express +their views. Perhaps they feared their faith might be +disturbed by the strong light of investigation. Some +half dozen members of the Revising Committee began +with me to write "Comments on the Pentateuch."</p> +<p>The chief thought revolving in my mind during the +years of 1894 and 1895 had been "The Woman's Bible." +In talking with friends I began to feel that I might +realize my long-cherished plan. Accordingly, I began +to read the commentators on the Bible and was surprised +to see how little they had to say about the greatest +factor in civilization, the mother of the race, and +that little by no means complimentary. The more I +read, the more keenly I felt the importance of convincing +women that the Hebrew mythology had no special +claim to a higher origin than that of the Greeks, being +far less attractive in style and less refined in sentiment. +Its objectionable features would long ago have been +apparent had they not been glossed over with a faith in +their divine inspiration. For several months I de<a name="Page_453"></a>voted +all my time to Biblical criticism and ecclesiastical +history, and found no explanation for the degraded +status of women under all religions, and in all the so-called +"Holy Books."</p> +<p>When Part I. of "The Woman's Bible" was finally +published in November, 1895, it created a great sensation. +Some of the New York city papers gave a page +to its review, with pictures of the commentators, of its +critics, and even of the book itself. The clergy denounced +it as the work of Satan, though it really was +the work of Ellen Battelle Dietrick, Lillie Devereux +Blake, Rev. Phebe A. Hanaford, Clara Bewick Colby, +Ursula N. Gestefeld, Louisa Southworth, Frances Ellen +Burr, and myself. Extracts from it, and criticisms of +the commentators, were printed in the newspapers +throughout America, Great Britain, and Europe. A +third edition was found necessary, and finally an edition +was published in England. The Revising Committee +was enlarged, and it now consists of over thirty of the +leading women of America and Europe.<a name="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a + href="#Footnote_A_1"><sup>[A]</sup></a></p> +<p>The month of August, 1895, we spent in Peterboro, +on the grand hills of Madison County, nine hundred +feet above the valley. Gerrit Smith's fine old mansion +still stands, surrounded with magnificent trees, +where I had played in childhood, chasing squirrels over +lawn and gardens and wading in a modest stream that +still creeps slowly round the grounds. I recalled as I +sat on the piazza how one time, when Frederick Douglass +came to spend a few days at Peterboro, some +Southern visitors wrote a note to Mr. Smith asking if +Mr. Douglass was to sit in the parlor and at the +<a name="Page_454"></a>dining table; if so, during his visit they would +remain +in their own apartments. Mr. Smith replied that +his visitors were always treated by his family as equals, +and such would be the case with Mr. Douglass, who +was considered one of the ablest men reared under +"The Southern Institution." So these ladies had their +meals in their own apartments, where they stayed most +of the time, and, as Mr. Douglass prolonged his visit, +they no doubt wished in their hearts that they had +never taken that silly position. The rest of us walked +about with him, arm in arm, played games, and sang +songs together, he playing the accompaniment on the +guitar. I suppose if our prejudiced countrywomen had +been introduced to Dumas in a French salon, they +would at once have donned their bonnets and ran away.</p> +<p>Sitting alone under the trees I recalled the different +generations that had passed away, all known to me. +Here I had met the grandfather, Peter Sken Smith, +partner of John Jacob Astor. In their bargains with the +Indians they acquired immense tracts of land in the +Northern part of the State of New York, which were +the nucleus of their large fortunes. I have often heard +Cousin Gerrit complain of the time he lost managing the +estate. His son Greene was an enthusiast in the natural +sciences and took but little interest in property matters. +Later, his grandson, Gerrit Smith Miller, assumed the +burden of managing the estate and, in addition, devoted +himself to agriculture. He imported a fine breed of +Holstein cattle, which have taken the first prize at several +fairs. His son, bearing the same name, is devoted +to the natural sciences, like his uncle Greene; +whose fine collection of birds was presented by his +widow to Harvard College.</p> +<p><a name="Page_455"></a>The only daughter of Gerrit Smith, Elizabeth +Smith +Miller, is a remarkable woman, possessing many of the +traits of her noble father. She has rare executive +ability, as shown in the dispatch of her extensive correspondence +and in the perfect order of her house and +grounds. She has done much in the way of education, +especially for the colored race, in helping to establish +schools and in distributing literature. She subscribes +for many of the best books, periodicals, and papers for +friends not able to purchase for themselves. We +cannot estimate the good she has done in this way. +Every mail brings her letters from all classes, from +charitable institutions, prisons, Southern plantations, +army posts, and the far-off prairies. To all these +pleas for help she gives a listening ear. Her charities +are varied and boundless, and her hospitalities to the +poor as well as the rich, courteous and generous. The +refinement and artistic taste of the Southern mother +and the heroic virtues of the father are happily blended +in their daughter. In her beautiful home on Seneca +Lake, one is always sure to meet some of the most +charming representatives of the progressive thought +of our times. Representatives of all these generations +now rest in the cemetery at Peterboro, and as in +review they passed before me they seemed to say, "Why +linger you here alone so long?"</p> +<p>My son Theodore arrived from Paris in September, +1895, and rendered most important service during the +preparations for my birthday celebration, in answering +letters, talking with reporters, and making valuable +suggestions to the managers as to many details in +the arrangements, and encouraging me to go through +the ordeal with my usual heroism. I never felt so nerv<a name="Page_456"></a>ous +in my life, and so unfitted for the part I was in duty +bound to perform. From much speaking through +many years my voice was hoarse, from a severe fall I +was quite lame, and as standing, and distinct speaking +are important to graceful oratory, I felt like the king's +daughter in Shakespeare's play of "Titus Andronicus," +when rude men who had cut her hands off and her +tongue out, told her to call for water and wash her +hands. However, I lived through the ordeal, as the +reader will see in the next chapter.</p> +<p>After my birthday celebration, the next occasion of +deep interest to me was the Chicago Convention of +1896, the platform there adopted, and the nomination +and brilliant campaign of William J. Bryan. I had +long been revolving in my mind questions relating to +the tariff and finance, and in the demands of liberal +democrats, populists, socialists, and the laboring men +and women, I heard the clarion notes of the coming +revolution.</p> +<p>During the winter of 1895-96 I was busy writing +alternately on this autobiography and "The Woman's +Bible," and articles for magazines and journals on every +possible subject from Venezuela and Cuba to the bicycle. +On the latter subject many timid souls were greatly +distressed. Should women ride? What should they +wear? What are "God's intentions" concerning +them? Should they ride on Sunday? These questions +were asked with all seriousness. We had a symposium +on these points in one of the daily papers. To me the +answer to all these questions was simple—if woman +could ride, it was evidently "God's intention" that +she be permitted to do so. As to what she should +wear, she must decide what is best adapted to her +<a name="Page_457"></a>comfort and convenience. Those who prefer a spin +of a few hours on a good road in the open air to a +close church and a dull sermon, surely have the +right to choose, whether with trees and flowers and +singing birds to worship in "That temple not made with +hands, eternal in the heavens," or within four walls to +sleep during the intonation of that melancholy service +that relegates us all, without distinction of sex or +color, to the ranks of "miserable sinners." Let each +one do what seemeth right in her own eyes, provided +she does not encroach on the rights of others.</p> +<p>In May, 1896, I again went to Geneva and found the +bicycle craze had reached there, with all its most pronounced +symptoms; old and young, professors, clergymen, +and ladies of fashion were all spinning merrily +around on business errands, social calls, and excursions +to distant towns. Driving down the avenue one day, +we counted eighty bicycles before reaching the post-office. +The ancient bandbox, so detested by our sires +and sons, has given place to this new machine which our +daughters take with them wheresoever they go, boxing +and unboxing and readjusting for each journey. It +has been a great blessing to our girls in compelling +them to cultivate their self-reliance and their mechanical +ingenuity, as they are often compelled to mend the +wheel in case of accident. Among the visitors at Geneva +were Mr. Douglass and his daughter from the island of +Cuba. They gave us very sad accounts of the desolate +state of the island and the impoverished condition of the +people. I had long felt that the United States should +interfere in some way to end that cruel warfare, for +Spain has proved that she is incompetent to restore +order and peace.</p> +<h4 style="text-align: left;"><a name="Page_458"></a>NOTES:</h4> +<a name="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1">[A]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Part II. of "The Woman's Bible," which completes the work, +will be +issued in January, 1898.</p> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVIII.</h2> +<h2>MY EIGHTIETH BIRTHDAY.</h2> +<br> +<p>Without my knowledge or consent, my lifelong +friend, Susan B. Anthony, who always seems to appreciate +homage tendered to me more highly than even to +herself, made arrangements for the celebration of my +eightieth birthday, on the 12th day of November, 1895. +She preferred that this celebration should be conducted +by the National Council of Women, composed of a large +number of organizations representing every department +of woman's labor, though, as the enfranchisement of +woman had been my special life work, it would have +been more appropriate if the celebration had been under +the auspices of the National Woman's Suffrage Association.</p> +<p>Mrs. Mary Lowe Dickinson, President of the National +Council of Women, assumed the financial +responsibility and the extensive correspondence involved, +and with rare tact, perseverance, and executive +ability made the celebration a complete success. In +describing this occasion I cannot do better than to +reproduce, in part, Mrs. Dickinson's account, published +in <i>The Arena</i>:</p> +<p>"In the month of June, 1895, the National Council +of Women issued the following invitation:</p> +<p>"'Believing that the progress made by women in the +last half century may be promoted by a more general +notice of their achievements, we propose to hold, in +<a name="Page_459"></a>New York city, a convention for this purpose. As +an +appropriate time for such a celebration, the eightieth +birthday of Elizabeth Cady Stanton has been chosen. +Her half century of pioneer work for the rights of +women makes her name an inspiration for such an occasion +and her life a fitting object for the homage of all +women.</p> +<p>"'This National Council is composed of twenty +organizations; these and all other societies interested are +invited to co-operate in grateful recognition of the debt +the present generation owes to the pioneers of the past. +From their interest in the enfranchisement of women, +the influence of Mrs. Stanton and her coadjutor, Miss +Anthony, has permeated all departments of progress +and made them a common center round which all interested +in woman's higher development may gather.'</p> +<p>"To this invitation came responses, from the Old +World and the New, expressing sympathy with the proposed +celebration, which was intended to emphasize a +great principle by showing the loftiness of character that +had resulted from its embodiment in a unique personality. +The world naturally thinks of the personality +before it thinks of the principle. It has, at least, so +much unconscious courtesy left as to honor a noble +woman, even when failing to rightly apprehend a noble +cause. To afford this feeling its proper expression, to +render more tangible all vague sympathy, to crystallize +the growing sentiment in favor of human freedom, to +give youth the opportunity to reverence the glory of +age, to give hearts their utterances in word and song +was perhaps the most popular purpose of the reunion. +In other words, it gave an opportunity for those who +revered Mrs. Stanton as a queen among women to show +<a name="Page_460"></a>their reverence, and to recognize the work her +life had +wrought, and to see in it an epitome of the progress +of a century.</p> +<p>"The celebration was also an illustration of the distinctive +idea of the National Council of Women, which +aims to give recognition to all human effort without +demanding uniformity of opinion as a basis of co-operation. +It claims to act upon a unity of service, notwithstanding +differences of creed and methods. The things +that separate, shrank back into the shadows where they +belong, and all hearts brave enough to think, and tender +enough to feel, found it easy to unite in homage +to a life which had known a half century of struggle +to lift humanity from bondage and womanhood from +shame.</p> +<p>"This reunion was the first general recognition of +the debt the present owes to the past. It was the first +effort to show the extent to which later development +has been inspired and made possible by the freedom to +think and work claimed in that earlier time by women +like Lucretia Mott, Lucy Stone, Mrs. Stanton, and +many others whose names stand as synonyms of noble +service for the race. To those who looked at the reunion +from this point of view it could not fail of +inspiration.</p> +<p>"For the followers in lines of philanthropic work to +look in the faces and hear the voices of women like Clara +Barton and Mary Livermore; for the multitude enlisted +in the crowded ranks of literature to feel in the living +presence, what literature owes to women like Julia Ward +Howe; for the white ribbon army to turn from its one +great leader of to-day whose light, spreading to the +horizon, does not obscure or dim the glory of the cru<a name="Page_461"></a>sade +leaders of the past; for art lovers and art students +to call to mind sculptors like Harriet Hosmer and Anna +Whitney, and remember the days when art was a +sealed book to women; for the followers of the truly +divine art of healing to honor the Blackwell sisters and +the memory of Mme. Clemence Lozier; for the mercy +of surgery to reveal itself in the face of Dr. Cushier, who +has proved for us that heart of pity and hand of skill need +never be divorced; for women lifting their eyes to meet +the face of Phebe A. Hanaford and Anna Shaw and +other women who to-day in the pulpit, as well as out of +it, may use a woman's right to minister to needy souls; +for the ofttime sufferers from unrighteous law to welcome +women lawyers; for the throng of working women +to read backward through the story of four hundred +industries to their beginning in the 'four,' and remember +that each new door had opened because some +women toiled and strove; for all these the exercises were +a part of a great thanksgiving paean, each phase of progress +striking its own chord, and finding each its echo +in the hearts that held it dear.</p> +<p>"To the student of history, or to him who can read +the signs of the times, there was such a profound significance +in this occasion as makes one shrink from +dwelling too much upon the external details. Yet as a +pageant only it was a most inspiring sight, and one truly +worthy of a queen. Indeed as we run the mind back +over the pages of history, what queen came to a more +triumphant throne in the hearts of a grateful people? +What woman ever before sat silver-crowned, canopied +with flowers, surrounded not by servile followers but by +men and women who brought to her court the grandest +service they had wrought, their best thought crystallized +<a name="Page_462"></a>in speech and song. Greater than any triumphal +procession +that ever marked a royal passage through a +kingdom was it to know that in a score or more of cities, +in many a village church on that same night festive fires +were lighted, and the throng kept holiday, bringing for +tribute not gold and gems but noblest aspirations, +truest gratitude, and highest ideals for the nation and +the race.</p> +<p>"The great meeting was but one link in a chain; yet +with its thousands of welcoming faces, with its eloquence +of words, with its offering of sweetest song from the +children of a race that once was bound but now is free, +with its pictured glimpses of the old time and the new +flashing out upon the night, with the home voices offering +welcome and gratitude and love, with numberless +greetings, from the great, true, brave souls of many +lands, it was indeed a wonderful tribute, worthy of the +great warm heart of a nation that offered it, and worthy +of the woman so revered.</p> +<p>"It seemed fitting that Mme. Antoinette Sterling, +who, twenty years ago, took her wonderful voice away +to England, where it won for her a unique place in the +hearts of the nation, should, on returning to her country, +give her first service to the womanhood of her +native land. 'I am coming a week earlier,' so she had +written, 'that my first work in my own beloved America +may be done for women. I am coming as a woman and +not as an artist, and because I so glory in that which the +women of my country have achieved.' So when she +sang out of her heart, 'O rest in the Lord; wait patiently +for him!' no marvel that it seemed to lift all listening +hearts to a recognition of the divine secret and +source of power for all work.</p> +<p>"<a name="Page_463"></a>One charming feature of the entertainment +was a +series of pictures called 'Then and Now,' each illustrating +the change in woman's condition during the last fifty +years. And after this, upon the dimness there shone +out, one after another, the names of noble women like +Mary Lyon, Maria Mitchell, Emma Willard, and many +others who have passed away. Upon the shadows and +the silence broke Mme. Sterling's voice in Tennyson's +'Crossing the Bar.' And when this was over, as with +one voice, the whole audience sang softly 'Auld Lang +Syne.'</p> +<p>"And last but not least should be mentioned the +greetings that poured in a shower of telegrams and letters +from every section of the country, and many from +over the sea. These expressions, not only of personal +congratulation for Mrs. Stanton, but utterances of +gladness for the progress in woman's life and thought, +for the conditions, already so much better than in the +past, and for the hope for the future, would make +of themselves a most interesting and wonderful chapter. +Among them may be mentioned letters from Lord and +Lady Aberdeen, from Lady Henry Somerset and Frances +E. Willard, from Canon Wilberforce, and many +others, including an address from thirty members of the +family of John Bright, headed by his brother, the Right +Honorable Jacob Bright; a beautifully engrossed address, +on parchment, from the National Woman +Suffrage Society of Scotland, an address from the London +Women's Franchise League, and a cablegram from +the Bristol Women's Liberal Association; a letter from +the Women's Rights Society of Finland, signed by its +president, Baroness Gripenberg of Helsingfors; telegrams +from the California Suffrage Pioneers; and others +<a name="Page_464"></a>from the Chicago Woman's Club, from the Toledo +and +Ohio Woman's Suffrage Society, from the son of the +Rev. Dr. William Ellery Channing, and a telegram and +letter from citizens and societies of Seneca Falls, New +York, accompanied with flowers and many handsome +pieces of silver from the different societies. There were +also letters from Hon. Oscar S. Strauss, ex-minister to +Turkey, Miss Ellen Terry, and scores of others. An +address was received from the Women's Association of +Utah, accompanied by a beautiful onyx and silver ballot +box; and from the Shaker women of Mount Lebanon +came an ode; a solid silver loving cup from the New +York City Suffrage League, presented on the platform +with a few appropriate words by its President, Mrs. +Devereux Blake.</p> +<p>"Hundreds of organizations and societies, both in +this country and abroad, wished to have their names +placed on record as in sympathy with the movement. +Many organizations were present in a body, and one was +reminded, by the variety and beauty of the decorations +of their boxes, of the Venetian Carnival, as the occupants +gazed down from amid the silken banners and the +flowers, upon the throng below. The whole occasion +was indeed a unique festival, unique in its +presentation, as well as in its purpose, plan, character, +and spirit. No woman present could fail to +be impressed with what we owe to the women of the +past, and especially to this one woman who was the +honored guest of the occasion. And no young woman +could desire to forget the picture of this aged form as, +leaning upon her staff, Mrs. Stanton spoke to the great +audience of over six thousand, as she had spoken hundreds +of times before in legislative halls, and whenever +<a name="Page_465"></a>her word could influence the popular sentiment +in favor +of justice for all mankind."</p> +<p>My birthday celebration, with all the testimonials of +love and friendship I received, was an occasion of such +serious thought and deep feeling as I had never before +experienced. Having been accustomed for half a century +to blame rather than praise, I was surprised with +such a manifestation of approval; I could endure any +amount of severe criticism with complacency, but such +an outpouring of homage and affection stirred me profoundly. +To calm myself during that week of excitement, +I thought many times of Michelet's wise motto, +"Let the weal and woe of humanity be everything to +you, their praise and blame of no effect; be not puffed +up with the one nor cast down with the other."</p> +<p>Naturally at such a time I reviewed my life, its march +and battle on the highways of experience, and counted +its defeats and victories. I remembered when a few +women called the first convention to discuss their disabilities, +that our conservative friends said: "You have +made a great mistake, you will be laughed at from Maine +to Texas and beyond the sea; God has set the bounds of +woman's sphere and she should be satisfied with her +position." Their prophecy was more than realized; we +were unsparingly ridiculed by the press and pulpit both +in England and America. But now many conventions +are held each year in both countries to discuss the same +ideas; social customs have changed; laws have been +modified; municipal suffrage has been granted to women +in England and some of her colonies; school suffrage has +been granted to women in half of our States, municipal +suffrage in Kansas, and full suffrage in four States of the +Union. Thus the principle scouted in 1848 was ac<a name="Page_466"></a>cepted +in England in 1870, and since then, year by year, +it has slowly progressed in America until the fourth star +shone out on our flag in 1896, and Idaho enfranchised +her women! That first convention, considered a +"grave mistake" in 1848, is now referred to as "a +grand step in progress."</p> +<p>My next mistake was when, as president of the New +York State Woman's Temperance Association, I demanded +the passage of a statute allowing wives an absolute +divorce for the brutality and intemperance of their +husbands. I addressed the Legislature of New York a +few years later when a similar bill was pending, and also +large audiences in several of our chief cities, and for this +I was severely denounced. To-day fugitives from such +unholy ties can secure freedom in many of the Western +States, and enlightened public sentiment sustains +mothers in refusing to hand down an appetite fraught +with so many evil consequences. This, also called a +"mistake" in 1860, was regarded as a "step in progress" +a few years later.</p> +<p>Again, I urged my coadjutors by speeches, letters, and +resolutions, as a means of widespread agitation, to make +the same demands of the Church that we had already +made of the State. They objected, saying, "That is too +revolutionary, an attack on the Church would injure the +suffrage movement." But I steadily made the demand, +as opportunity offered, that women be ordained to +preach the Gospel and to fill the offices as elders, deacons, +and trustees. A few years later some of these +suggestions were accepted. Some churches did ordain +women as pastors over congregations of their own, +others elected women deaconesses, and a few churches +allowed women, as delegates, to sit in their conferences. +<a name="Page_467"></a>Thus this demand was in a measure honored and +another +"step in progress" taken.</p> +<p>In 1882 I tried to organize a committee to consider +the status of women in the Bible, and the claim that the +Hebrew Writings were the result of divine inspiration. +It was thought very presumptuous for women not +learned in languages and ecclesiastical history to undertake +such work. But as we merely proposed to comment +on what was said of women in plain English, and +found these texts composed only one-tenth of the Old +and New Testaments, it did not seem to me a difficult or +dangerous undertaking. However, when Part I. of +"The Woman's Bible" was published, again there was +a general disapproval by press and pulpit, and even by +women themselves, expressed in resolutions in suffrage +and temperance conventions. Like other "mistakes," +this too, in due time, will be regarded as "a step +in progress."</p> +<p>Such experiences have given me confidence in my +judgment, and patience with the opposition of my coadjutors, +with whom on so many points I disagree. It +requires no courage now to demand the right of suffrage, +temperance legislation, liberal divorce laws, or for +women to fill church offices—these battles have been +fought and won and the principle governing these demands +conceded. But it still requires courage to +question the divine inspiration of the Hebrew Writings +as to the position of woman. Why should the +myths, fables, and allegories of the Hebrews be held +more sacred than those of the Assyrians and Egyptians, +from whose literature most of them were derived? +Seeing that the religious superstitions of women perpetuate +their bondage more than all other adverse in<a name="Page_468"></a>fluences, +I feel impelled to reiterate my demands for +justice, liberty, and equality in the Church as well as in +the State.</p> +<p>The birthday celebration was to me more than a beautiful +pageant; more than a personal tribute. It was the +dawn of a new day for the Mothers of the Race! The +harmonious co-operation of so many different organizations, +with divers interests and opinions, in one grand +jubilee was, indeed, a heavenly vision of peace and hope; +a prophecy that with the exaltation of Womanhood +would come new Life, Light, and Liberty to all +mankind.</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="INDEX_OF_NAMES"></a> +<h2>INDEX OF NAMES.</h2> +Aberdeen, <i>Lord</i> and <i>Lady</i>, <a href="#Page_463">463</a> +<br> +Addington, Laura, <a href="#Page_282">282</a><br> +Albert, <i>Prince</i>, <a href="#Page_398">398</a><br> +Alcott, A. Bronson, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, +<a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a + href="#Page_449">449</a><br> +Alcott, Louisa M., <a href="#Page_157">157</a><br> +Allison, Miss, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>, <a href="#Page_316">316</a><br> +Amberly, <i>Lord</i> and <i>Lady</i>, <a href="#Page_430">430</a><br> +Ames, Mary Clemmer, <a href="#Page_263">263</a><br> +Anderson, Dr. Garrett, <a href="#Page_371">371</a><br> +André, <i>Major</i> John, <a href="#Page_3">3</a><br> +Andrews, <i>Governor</i> John A., <a href="#Page_236">236</a><br> +Anthony, Daniel, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, +<a href="#Page_193">193</a><br> +Anthony, <i>Senator</i> Henry B., <a href="#Page_330">330</a><br> +Anthony, Lucy, <a href="#Page_193">193</a><br> +Anthony, Mary, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, +<a href="#Page_389">389</a>, <a href="#Page_434">434</a><br> +Anthony, Susan B., <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, +<a href="#Page_160">160</a>-<a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a + href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>-<a + href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a + href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a + href="#Page_192">192</a>-<a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a + href="#Page_203">203</a>,<a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a + href="#Page_212">212</a>-<a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a + href="#Page_219">219</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a + href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a + href="#Page_337">337</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a><br> +<a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a + href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a + href="#Page_256">256</a>-<a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a + href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a + href="#Page_271">271</a>,<a href="#Page_283">283</a>, <a + href="#Page_290">290</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>, <a + href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>, <a + href="#Page_299">299</a>, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>, <a + href="#Page_309">309</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>,<a + href="#Page_313">313</a>, <a href="#Page_317">317</a>, <a + href="#Page_323">323</a>, <a href="#Page_326">326</a>, <a + href="#Page_330">330</a>, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>, <a + href="#Page_334">334</a>-<a href="#Page_337">337</a>, <a + href="#Page_351">351</a>,<a href="#Page_364">364</a>-<a + href="#Page_366">366</a>, <a href="#Page_368">368</a>, <a + href="#Page_373">373</a>-<a href="#Page_375">375</a>, <a + href="#Page_378">378</a>, <a href="#Page_380">380</a>, <a + href="#Page_385">385</a>, <a href="#Page_387">387</a>,<a + href="#Page_389">389</a>, <a href="#Page_392">392</a>, <a + href="#Page_411">411</a>-<a href="#Page_414">414</a>, <a + href="#Page_420">420</a>, <a href="#Page_433">433</a>, <a + href="#Page_434">434</a>, <a href="#Page_449">449</a>, <a + href="#Page_452">452</a>,<a href="#Page_458">458</a>-<a + href="#Page_459">459</a><br> +Arnold, <i>General</i> Benedict, <a href="#Page_3">3</a><br> +Arnold, Matthew, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a><br> +Astor, John Jacob, <a href="#Page_454">454</a><br> +Auchet, Hubertine, <a href="#Page_177">177</a><br> +Austin, <i>Dr</i>. Harriet N., <a href="#Page_203">203</a><br> +Ayer, Mrs. J.C., <a href="#Page_401">401</a><br> +<br> +Backus, Wealthea, <a href="#Page_67">67</a><br> +Bagley, <i>Governor</i>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>, <a + href="#Page_305">305</a><br> +Bagley, Mrs., <a href="#Page_303">303</a>, <a href="#Page_401">401</a><br> +Baird, <i>General</i>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a><br> +Baldwin, Elizabeth McMartin, <a href="#Page_380">380</a><br> +Balgarnie, Miss, <a href="#Page_394">394</a><br> +Banning, Ella B., <a href="#Page_277">277</a><br> +Banning, William L., <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a><br> +Barclay, Cornelia, <a href="#Page_68">68</a><br> +Barrau, Caroline de, <a href="#Page_394">394</a><br> +Bartlett, Paul, <a href="#Page_404">404</a><br> +Barton, Clara, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_460">460</a><br> +Bascom, Mr., <a href="#Page_144">144</a><br> +Bascora, Mary, <a href="#Page_153">153</a><br> +Bayard, <i>Dr</i>. Edward, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a + href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, +<a href="#Page_46">46</a><br> +Bayard, Henry, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a + href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, +<a href="#Page_34">34</a><br> +Bayard, Thomas F., <a href="#Page_8">8</a><br> +Bayard, Tryphena Cady, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, +<a href="#Page_428">428</a><br> +Beach, Myron, <a href="#Page_279">279</a><br> +Beaman, <i>Rev. Dr</i>., <a href="#Page_41">41</a><br> +Becker, Lydia, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>, <a href="#Page_356">356</a>, +<a href="#Page_368">368</a>, <a href="#Page_373">373</a>, <a + href="#Page_374">374</a>, <a href="#Page_408">408</a><br> +Beecher, Catharine, <a href="#Page_264">264</a><br> +Beecher, <i>Rev</i>. Henry Ward, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a + href="#Page_260">260</a><br> +Bellamy, Edward, <a href="#Page_135">135</a><br> +Bellows, Rev. Henry, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a><br> +Benedict, Lewis, <a href="#Page_216">216</a><br> +Bently, <i>Judge</i>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a><br> +Berry, Mme., <a href="#Page_343">343</a><br> +Berry, Marguerite, <a href="#Page_331">331</a><br> +Berry, Mrs., <a href="#Page_282">282</a><br> +Bertaux, Mme. Léon, <a href="#Page_403">403</a><br> +Besant, Annie, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>, <a href="#Page_369">369</a><br> +Bickerdyke, <i>Mother</i>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a><br> +Biddle, Chapman, <a href="#Page_64">64</a><br> +Biddle, George, <a href="#Page_67">67</a><br> +Biggs, Caroline, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>, <a href="#Page_373">373</a>, +<a href="#Page_374">374</a>, <a href="#Page_394">394</a>, <a + href="#Page_408">408</a><br> +Bigelow, John, <a href="#Page_401">401</a><br> +Bigelow, Mrs. John, <a href="#Page_401">401</a><br> +Bingham, John A., <a href="#Page_289">289</a><br> +Bird, Frank W., <a href="#Page_330">330</a><br> +Birney, James Gr., <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>-<a + href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, +<a href="#Page_85">85</a>,<a href="#Page_89">89</a> <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, +<a href="#Page_107">107</a><br> +Bjornson, Bjornstjorne, <a href="#Page_401">401</a><br> +Blackburn, Miss, <a href="#Page_408">408</a><br> +Blackwell, Antoinette Brown, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a + href="#Page_461">461</a><br> +Blackwell, <i>Dr</i>. Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a + href="#Page_352">352</a>, <a href="#Page_374">374</a>, <a + href="#Page_461">461</a><br> +Blackwell, H.B., <a href="#Page_245">245</a><br> +Blaine, <i>Senator</i> James G., <a href="#Page_379">379</a>, <a + href="#Page_380">380</a>, <a href="#Page_401">401</a><br> +Blaine, Mrs. James G., <a href="#Page_401">401</a><br> +Blair, <i>Senator</i> Henry W., <a href="#Page_420">420</a><br> +Blake, Lillie Devereux, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a + href="#Page_378">378</a>, <a href="#Page_383">383</a>, <a + href="#Page_387">387</a>, <a href="#Page_448">448</a>, <a + href="#Page_453">453</a>, <a href="#Page_464">464</a><br> +Blatch, Harriot Stanton, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>, <a + href="#Page_336">336</a>, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>, <a + href="#Page_339">339</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>, <a + href="#Page_390">390</a>-<a href="#Page_392">392</a>, <a + href="#Page_394">394</a>, <a href="#Page_395">395</a>, <a + href="#Page_397">397</a>, <a href="#Page_410">410</a>, <a + href="#Page_418">418</a>, <a href="#Page_420">420</a>-<a + href="#Page_422">422</a>, <a href="#Page_429">429</a>, <a + href="#Page_431">431</a>, <a href="#Page_451">451</a><br> +Blatch, Nora Stanton, <a href="#Page_374">374</a>, <a href="#Page_394">394</a>, +<a href="#Page_426">426</a>, <a href="#Page_428">428</a>, <a + href="#Page_429">429</a><br> +Blatch, William H., <a href="#Page_348">348</a>, <a href="#Page_367">367</a>, +<a href="#Page_370">370</a>, <a href="#Page_389">389</a><br> +Blavatsky, Mme., <a href="#Page_377">377</a><br> +Bloomer, Amelia, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, +<a href="#Page_201">201</a><br> +Bogelot, Isabella, <a href="#Page_400">400</a><br> +Bogue, <i>Rev. Dr</i>., <a href="#Page_152">152</a><br> +Bonaparte, Napoleon, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, +<a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a><br> +Botta, Anne Lynch, <a href="#Page_440">440</a><br> +Boucherett, Jessie, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_357">357</a><br> +Bowles, Samuel, <a href="#Page_127">127</a><br> +Bradburn, George, <a href="#Page_81">81</a><br> +Bradlaugh, <i>Hon</i>. Charles, M, P., <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a + href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_360">360</a>, <a + href="#Page_366">366</a>, <a href="#Page_369">369</a><br> +Bradwell, Myra, <a href="#Page_317">317</a><br> +Bright, <i>Hon</i>. Jacob, M.P., <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a + href="#Page_358">358</a>, <a href="#Page_373">373</a>, <a + href="#Page_374">374</a>, <a href="#Page_463">463</a><br> +Bright, Mrs. Jacob, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>, <a href="#Page_368">368</a>, +<a href="#Page_372">372</a>-<a href="#Page_374">374</a>, <a + href="#Page_394">394</a>, <a href="#Page_423">423</a>, <a + href="#Page_429">429</a><br> +Bright, <i>Hon</i>. John, M.P., <a href="#Page_353">353</a>, <a + href="#Page_357">357</a>, <a href="#Page_365">365</a>, <a + href="#Page_366">366</a>, <a href="#Page_372">372</a>, <a + href="#Page_463">463</a><br> +Broomall, John M., <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a><br> +Brougham, Henry, Lord, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, +<a href="#Page_333">333</a><br> +Brown, Antoinette L., <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, +<a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a><br> +Brown, John, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a + href="#Page_245">245</a><br> +Brown, Olympia, <a href="#Page_245">245</a><br> +Brown, Mr., <a href="#Page_282">282</a><br> +Browne, Sir Thomas, M.D., <a href="#Page_406">406</a><br> +Browning, Robert, <a href="#Page_360">360</a><br> +Brownson, Orestes A., <a href="#Page_133">133</a><br> +Bryan, William J.. <a href="#Page_456">456</a><br> +Bryant, Miss, <a href="#Page_401">401</a><br> +Bryant, William Cullen, <a href="#Page_418">418</a><br> +Bullard, Laura Curtis, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a + href="#Page_341">341</a>, <a href="#Page_388">388</a><br> +Burlingame, Anson, <a href="#Page_197">197</a><br> +Burleigh, Celia, <a href="#Page_293">293</a><br> +Burleigh, Mrs. William, <a href="#Page_203">203</a><br> +Burnet, Rev. J., <a href="#Page_80">80</a><br> +Burr, Frances Ellen, <a href="#Page_453">453</a><br> +Burroughs, Herbert, <a href="#Page_429">429</a><br> +Busbey, L. White, <a href="#Page_401">401</a><br> +Bushnell, Horace, <a href="#Page_271">271</a><br> +Butler, General Benjamin F., <a href="#Page_300">300</a><br> +Butler, Josephine, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>, <a href="#Page_367">367</a><br> +Byron, Lady, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a><br> +Byron, Lord, <a href="#Page_88">88</a><br> +<br> +Cabot, Frederick, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, +<a href="#Page_392">392</a>, <a href="#Page_449">449</a><br> +Cady, Judge Daniel, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, +<a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a><br> +Cady, Eleazer, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a><br> +Cady, Margaret Livingston, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a><br> +Caird, Mona, <a href="#Page_409">409</a><br> +Cameron, Judge Hugh, <a href="#Page_273">273</a><br> +Carlisle, Lora and Lady, <a href="#Page_430">430</a><br> +Carlyle, Thomas, <a href="#Page_363">363</a><br> +Carnegie, Andrew, <a href="#Page_395">395</a><br> +Carroll, Anna, <a href="#Page_242">242</a><br> +Cary, Alice, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, +<a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a><br> +Cary, Phoebe, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, +<a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a><br> +Channing, Rev. Dr. William Ellery, <a href="#Page_464">464</a><br> +Channing, Dr. William F., <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a + href="#Page_330">330</a>,<br> +Channing, Rev. William Henry, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a + href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a + href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a + href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a + href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a + href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>, <a + href="#Page_351">351</a>, <a href="#Page_449">449</a>, <a + href="#Page_464">464</a><br> +Chant, Ormiston, <a href="#Page_408">408</a><br> +Chapman, Maria, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, +<a href="#Page_129">129</a><br> +Chase, William, <a href="#Page_134">134</a><br> +Cheever, Rev. George B., <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a + href="#Page_237">237</a><br> +Child, Lydia Maria, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, +<a href="#Page_277">277</a><br> +Choate, Joseph H., <a href="#Page_451">451</a><br> +Christie, Margaret, <a href="#Page_47">47</a><br> +Clark, Helen Bright, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>, <a href="#Page_365">365</a>, +<a href="#Page_372">372</a><br> +Clarkson, Thomas, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a><br> +Cleveland, Grover, <a href="#Page_379">379</a>, <a href="#Page_380">380</a><br> +Clinton, Governor De Witt C, <a href="#Page_450">450</a><br> +Cluseret, General, <a href="#Page_402">402</a><br> +Cobb, Mr. and Mrs., <a href="#Page_430">430</a>, <a href="#Page_431">431</a><br> +Cobbe, Frances Power, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>, <a href="#Page_362">362</a>, +<a href="#Page_363">363</a>, <a href="#Page_382">382</a><br> +Cobden, Jane, <a href="#Page_364">364</a><br> +Cochrane, James, <a href="#Page_68">68</a><br> +Cochrane, <i>General</i> John, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a + href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a><br> +Cochrane, Mary, <a href="#Page_64">64</a><br> +Colby, Clara B., <a href="#Page_416">416</a>, <a href="#Page_420">420</a>, +<a href="#Page_453">453</a><br> +Cole, Senator Cornelius, <a href="#Page_289">289</a><br> +Coleridge, Lady, <a href="#Page_425">425</a><br> +Collyer, Rev. Robert, <a href="#Page_327">327</a><br> +Combe, Andrew, <a href="#Page_115">115</a><br> +Comte, Auguste, <a href="#Page_395">395</a><br> +Conkling, Judge Alfred, <a href="#Page_52">52</a><br> +Conkling, Roscoe, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a><br> +Conway, Rev. Moncure D., <a href="#Page_356">356</a>, <a + href="#Page_392">392</a>, <a href="#Page_451">451</a><br> +Conway, Mrs. Moncure D., <a href="#Page_356">356</a>, <a + href="#Page_392">392</a>, <a href="#Page_439">439</a><br> +Cooley, Judge Thomas M., <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a + href="#Page_270">270</a><br> +Couzins, Phoebe W., <a href="#Page_294">294</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, +<a href="#Page_323">323</a>, <a href="#Page_420">420</a><br> +Croly, Jennie C, <a href="#Page_387">387</a><br> +Crowninshield, Captain A.S., <a href="#Page_154">154</a><br> +Crowninshield, Mary, <a href="#Page_153">153</a><br> +Cox, S.S., <a href="#Page_293">293</a><br> +Coxe, Bishop, <a href="#Page_66">66</a><br> +Curtis, George William, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a + href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>,<a + href="#Page_353">353</a><br> +Cushier, Dr., <a href="#Page_461">461</a><br> +Cushman, Charlotte, <a href="#Page_157">157</a><br> +<br> +Dana, Charles A., <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_448">448</a>, +<a href="#Page_449">449</a><br> +Dana, Eunice MacDaniel, <a href="#Page_449">449</a><br> +Darling, Anna B., <a href="#Page_173">173</a><br> +Darlington, Chandler, <a href="#Page_267">267</a><br> +Darlington, Hannah, <a href="#Page_267">267</a><br> +Davis, Edward M., <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a href="#Page_382">382</a>, +<a href="#Page_392">392</a><br> +Davis. Paulina Wright, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a + href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a + href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a><br> +Davitt, Michael. <a href="#Page_366">366</a><br> +Depesyrons, Professor, <a href="#Page_348">348</a><br> +Deraismes, Mme. Féresse, <a href="#Page_400">400</a><br> +Deraismes, Maria, <a href="#Page_400">400</a><br> +Dickinson, Anna E., <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, +<a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a + href="#Page_294">294</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a><br> +Dickinson, Mary Lowe, <a href="#Page_458">458</a><br> +Dietrick, Ellen Battelle, <a href="#Page_423">423</a>, <a + href="#Page_453">453</a><br> +Dilke, Mrs. Ashton, <a href="#Page_408">408</a>, <a href="#Page_410">410</a><br> +Dilke, Sir Charles, <a href="#Page_360">360</a>, <a href="#Page_422">422</a><br> +Dix, Dorothy, L., <a href="#Page_305">305</a><br> +Dix, General John A., <a href="#Page_127">127</a><br> +Douglass, Frederick, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, +<a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a + href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a + href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_355">355</a>, <a + href="#Page_401">401</a>, <a href="#Page_453">453</a>, <a + href="#Page_454">454</a><br> +Douglass, Mr., <a href="#Page_457">457</a><br> +Dowden, Professor, <a href="#Page_379">379</a>, <a href="#Page_394">394</a><br> +Dudley, Blandina Bleecker, <a href="#Page_54">54</a><br> +Dumas, Alexandre, <a href="#Page_454">454</a><br> +Durand, Mme. M.E., <a href="#Page_388">388</a>, <a href="#Page_401">401</a><br> +Dyer, Charles Gifford, <a href="#Page_401">401</a><br> +Dyer, Hella, <a href="#Page_401">401</a><br> +<br> +Eaton, Professor Amos B., <a href="#Page_444">444</a><br> +Eaton, Daniel C, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, +<a href="#Page_143">143</a><br> +Eaton, Harriet Cady, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, +<a href="#Page_143">143</a><br> +Eddy, Miss, <a href="#Page_385">385</a><br> +Eddy, Mrs. Jackson, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, +<a href="#Page_385">385</a><br> +Edmunds, Senator George F., <a href="#Page_174">174</a><br> +Eliot, George, <a href="#Page_382">382</a><br> +Euet, Elizabeth F., <a href="#Page_214">214</a><br> +Ellsler, Fanny, <a href="#Page_316">316</a><br> +Elmy, Mrs., <a href="#Page_358">358</a><br> +Emerson, Ralph Waldo, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, +<a href="#Page_150">150</a><br> +England, Isaac W., <a href="#Page_322">322</a><br> +England, Mrs. Isaac W., <a href="#Page_322">322</a><br> +Everett, Charles, <a href="#Page_335">335</a><br> +<br> +Fabre, Senator Joseph, <a href="#Page_402">402</a><br> +Fairchild, Governor Lucius, <a href="#Page_271">271</a><br> +Faithful, Emily, <a href="#Page_368">368</a><br> +Farnham, Mrs., <a href="#Page_305">305</a><br> +Fawcett, Henry, M.P., <a href="#Page_370">370</a>, <a href="#Page_371">371</a><br> +Fawcett, Milicent J., <a href="#Page_371">371</a>, <a href="#Page_374">374</a><br> +Ferry, Jules, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_402">402</a><br> +Ferry, Senator Thomas W., <a href="#Page_312">312</a><br> +Field, Rev. Dr. Henry M., <a href="#Page_401">401</a><br> +Field, Kate, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_423">423</a><br> +Fine, Judge, <a href="#Page_150">150</a><br> +Finney, Rev. Charles G., <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a><br> +Fitzhugh, Ann Carroll, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a><br> +Fitzhugh, Miss, <a href="#Page_74">74</a><br> +Folsom, Abigail, <a href="#Page_130">130</a><br> +Forbes, Arethusa, <a href="#Page_323">323</a><br> +Forney, John W., <a href="#Page_329">329</a><br> +Foster, Abby Kelly, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_316">316</a><br> +Foster, Rachel, <a href="#Page_413">413</a><br> +Foster, Stephen, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, +<a href="#Page_243">243</a><br> +Frederic, Harold, <a href="#Page_7">7</a><br> +Fremont, <i>General</i> John C, <a href="#Page_403">403</a><br> +French, Daniel C, <a href="#Page_401">401</a><br> +Frothingham, <i>Rev</i>. O.B., <a href="#Page_226">226</a><br> +Fronde, James Anthony, <a href="#Page_363">363</a><br> +Fry, Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, +<a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_305">305</a><br> +Fuller, Kate, <a href="#Page_401">401</a><br> +Fuller, Margaret, <a href="#Page_449">449</a><br> +Fuller, W.J.A., <a href="#Page_401">401</a><br> +Furness, <i>Rev</i>. William H., <a href="#Page_311">311</a><br> +<br> +Gage, Frances Dana, <a href="#Page_194">194</a><br> +Gage, Matilda Joslyn, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, +<a href="#Page_309">309</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a + href="#Page_313">313</a>, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>, <a + href="#Page_326">326</a>, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>, <a + href="#Page_329">329</a>, <a href="#Page_382">382</a>, <a + href="#Page_420">420</a><br> +Gardener, Helen H., <a href="#Page_392">392</a>, <a href="#Page_413">413</a><br> +Garibaldi, <i>General</i> G., <a href="#Page_403">403</a><br> +Garrison, Gertrude, <a href="#Page_392">392</a><br> +Garrison, William Lloyd, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, +<a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a + href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a + href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a + href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a + href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a + href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>, <a + href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a + href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a + href="#Page_355">355</a>, <a href="#Page_435">435</a><br> +Garrison, Mrs. W.L., <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a><br> +Gay, Sidney Howard, <a href="#Page_127">127</a><br> +Geddes, Mr., <a href="#Page_150">150</a><br> +George, Henry, <a href="#Page_450">450</a><br> +Gestefeld, Ursula N., <a href="#Page_453">453</a><br> +Gibbons, Abby Hopper, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a><br> +Gillespie, Mrs., <a href="#Page_314">314</a><br> +Gladstone, <i>Right Hon</i>., William E., <a href="#Page_360">360</a><br> +Gladstone, Mrs. W.E., <a href="#Page_397">397</a><br> +Godwin, Mary Wollstonecraft, <a href="#Page_427">427</a><br> +Godwin, William, <a href="#Page_427">427</a><br> +Grant, <i>General</i>, Ulysses S., <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a + href="#Page_388">388</a><br> +Greeley, Horace, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, +<a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a + href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>, <a + href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291</a><br> +Greeley, Mrs. Horace, <a href="#Page_134">134</a><br> +Greene, Beriah, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, +<a href="#Page_210">210</a><br> +Greenough, Mrs. W.H., <a href="#Page_263">263</a><br> +Greenwood, Grace, <a href="#Page_401">401</a><br> +Gréville, Henri, <a href="#Page_388">388</a>, <a + href="#Page_401">401</a><br> +Grévy, <i>President</i> Jules, <a href="#Page_402">402</a><br> +Grévy, Mme. Jules, <a href="#Page_402">402</a><br> +Grew, Mary, <a href="#Page_78">78</a><br> +Grey, Maria G., <a href="#Page_357">357</a><br> +Grimké, Angelina, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a + href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a><br> +Grimké, Sarah, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a><br> +Gripenberg, <i>Baroness</i> Alexandra, <a href="#Page_410">410</a>, <a + href="#Page_463">463</a><br> +Gurney, John Joseph, <a href="#Page_35">35</a><br> +Gurney, Samuel, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>-<a href="#Page_88">88</a><br> +Gustafsen, Mrs., <a href="#Page_410">410</a><br> +<br> +Hammond, <i>Dr</i>. William A., <a href="#Page_413">413</a><br> +Hanaford, <i>Rev</i>. Phebe A., <a href="#Page_453">453</a>, <a + href="#Page_461">461</a><br> +Harbert, Elizabeth Boynton, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>, <a + href="#Page_387">387</a><br> +Harberton, <i>Lady</i>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a><br> +Harvey, <i>Rev</i>. A., <a href="#Page_80">80</a><br> +Hawley, <i>General</i> Joseph R., <a href="#Page_310">310</a>, <a + href="#Page_311">311</a>,<br> +Hawthorne, Nathaniel, <a href="#Page_107">107</a><br> +Hazeltine, Mayo W., <a href="#Page_329">329</a><br> +Heine, Heinrich, <a href="#Page_407">407</a><br> +Hertell, <i>Judge</i> <a href="#Page_150">150</a><br> +Hertz, Fannie, <a href="#Page_359">359</a>, <a href="#Page_360">360</a><br> +Hicks, Elias, <a href="#Page_84">84</a><br> +Higginson, Thomas Wentworth, <a href="#Page_179">179</a><br> +Hill, Octavia, <a href="#Page_352">352</a><br> +Hill, <i>President</i>, <a href="#Page_434">434</a><br> +Hinckley, <i>Rev</i>. Frederick A., <a href="#Page_331">331</a><br> +Hoar, <i>Senator</i> George F., <a href="#Page_388">388</a><br> +Hoggan, <i>Dr</i>. Frances E., <a href="#Page_357">357</a><br> +Hoisington, Rev. William, <a href="#Page_220">220</a><br> +Holmes, Oliver Wendell, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a + href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a + href="#Page_394">394</a><br> +Hooker, Isabella Beecher, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>, <a + href="#Page_420">420</a>, <a href="#Page_448">448</a><br> +Holyoake, George Jacob, <a href="#Page_150">150</a><br> +Hosack, <i>Rev</i>. Simon, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a + href="#Page_21">21</a><br> +Hoskins, Frances, <a href="#Page_153">153</a><br> +Hosmer, Harriet, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_374">374</a>, +<a href="#Page_461">461</a><br> +Hovey, Charles, <a href="#Page_127">127</a><br> +Howe, Julia Ward, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_460">460</a><br> +Howell, <i>Judge</i>, <a href="#Page_443">443</a><br> +Howell, Mary Seymour, <a href="#Page_383">383</a><br> +Howells, William D., <a href="#Page_356">356</a><br> +Howells, Mrs. William D., <a href="#Page_356">356</a><br> +Howitt, Mary, <a href="#Page_65">65</a><br> +Hudson, Harriet, <a href="#Page_443">443</a><br> +Hugo, Victor, <a href="#Page_429">429</a><br> +Hunt, Jane, <a href="#Page_148">148</a><br> +Hunt, <i>Dr</i>. Harriet K., <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a + href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a + href="#Page_316">316</a><br> +Hunt, <i>Judge</i> Ward, <a href="#Page_179">179</a><br> +Hunt, Richard, <a href="#Page_148">148</a><br> +Hurlbert, <i>Judge</i>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a><br> +Huron, Mr., <a href="#Page_274">274</a><br> +Hutchinson, <i>Family</i>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a + href="#Page_313">313</a><br> +Hutchins, Mr., <a href="#Page_291">291</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a><br> +Hyacinthe, <i>Père</i>, <a href="#Page_401">401</a><br> +<br> +Ingersoll, Robert G., <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_414">414</a><br> +<br> +Jackson, Francis, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, +<a href="#Page_385">385</a><br> +Jackson, <i>Dr</i>. James, <a href="#Page_419">419</a><br> +Jackson, <i>Dr</i>. Kate, <a href="#Page_419">419</a><br> +Jackson, Mr. and Mrs., <a href="#Page_424">424</a><br> +Jackson, Mrs., <a href="#Page_422">422</a>, <a href="#Page_424">424</a><br> +Jacobi, <i>Dr</i>. Mary Putnam, <a href="#Page_451">451</a><br> +Jameson, Anna, <a href="#Page_80">80</a><br> +Janes, <i>Bishop</i>, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>, <a + href="#Page_295">295</a><br> +Jarvis, Helen, <a href="#Page_203">203</a><br> +Jenckes, Thomas A., <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a><br> +Jenkins, Lydia, <a href="#Page_203">203</a><br> +Jenney, Mr. and Mrs., <a href="#Page_270">270</a><br> +Johnson, Adelaide, <a href="#Page_433">433</a>, <a href="#Page_434">434</a><br> +Johnson, Mariana, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a><br> +Johnson, Oliver, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, +<a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a><br> +Johnson, <i>Sir</i> William, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a + href="#Page_18">18</a><br> +Joly, <i>Professor</i> Nicholas, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>, <a + href="#Page_350">350</a><br> +Jones, Phoebe, <a href="#Page_243">243</a><br> +June, Jennie, <a href="#Page_387">387</a><br> +<br> +Kelley, William D., <a href="#Page_240">240</a><br> +Kelley, Abby, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a + href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a><br> +Kennan, George, <a href="#Page_409">409</a><br> +Kent, <i>Chancellor</i>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>-<a + href="#Page_223">223</a><br> +Kergomard, Pauline, <a href="#Page_401">401</a><br> +Kilpatrick, <i>General</i>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a + href="#Page_262">262</a><br> +Kimber, Abby, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a><br> +King, <i>Captain</i> Charles, <a href="#Page_448">448</a><br> +Kingsford, Anna, <a href="#Page_377">377</a><br> +Kingsley, <i>Canon</i> Charles, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>, <a + href="#Page_370">370</a><br> +Klumpke, Anna, <a href="#Page_404">404</a><br> +Krapotkine, <i>Prince</i>, <a href="#Page_409">409</a><br> +<br> +Laboulaye, Edouard R.L., <a href="#Page_177">177</a><br> +LaFayette, <i>Marquis</i> de, <a href="#Page_316">316</a><br> +Lampson, <i>Father</i>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a><br> +Lapham, Anson, <a href="#Page_181">181</a><br> +Lauterbach, Mrs. Edward, <a href="#Page_451">451</a><br> +Lawrence, Frank E., <a href="#Page_417">417</a><br> +Lawrence, Margaret Stanton, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>, <a + href="#Page_325">325</a>, <a href="#Page_377">377</a>, <a + href="#Page_378">378</a>, <a href="#Page_418">418</a>, <a + href="#Page_420">420</a>, <a href="#Page_432">432</a>, <a + href="#Page_450">450</a>, <a href="#Page_451">451</a><br> +Lawson, <i>Sir</i> Wilfrid, <a href="#Page_365">365</a><br> +Leavitt, Joshua, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a><br> +Lecky, W.E.H., <a href="#Page_448">448</a><br> +Lee, Richard Henry, <a href="#Page_312">312</a><br> +Lee, Theresa, <a href="#Page_443">443</a><br> +Lieneff, Mr., <a href="#Page_409">409</a><br> +Lincoln, Abraham, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_403">403</a><br> +Livermore, Mary A., <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_460">460</a><br> +Livingston, Colonel James, <a href="#Page_3">3</a><br> +Livingston, Margaret, <a href="#Page_3">3</a><br> +Livingston, Mary, <a href="#Page_133">133</a><br> +Logan, Olive, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_374">374</a><br> +Long, Governor John D., <a href="#Page_330">330</a><br> +Longfellow, Henry W., <a href="#Page_387">387</a>, <a href="#Page_429">429</a>, +<a href="#Page_447">447</a><br> +Longfellow, Rev. Samuel, <a href="#Page_219">219</a><br> +Lord, Dr., <a href="#Page_384">384</a><br> +Lord, Emily, <a href="#Page_406">406</a><br> +Lord, Frances, <a href="#Page_374">374</a>, <a href="#Page_377">377</a>, +<a href="#Page_390">390</a>-<a href="#Page_392">392</a>, <a + href="#Page_432">432</a><br> +Louis Philippe, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a><br> +Lowell, James Russell, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a + href="#Page_357">357</a><br> +Lozier, Dr. Clemence S., <a href="#Page_387">387</a>, <a + href="#Page_461">461</a><br> +Lucas, Margaret Bright, <a href="#Page_355">355</a>, <a + href="#Page_360">360</a>, <a href="#Page_373">373</a>-<a + href="#Page_375">375</a>, <a href="#Page_394">394</a>, <a + href="#Page_397">397</a><br> +Lyon, Mary, <a href="#Page_463">463</a><br> +<br> +McClintock, Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_153">153</a><br> +McClintock, Mary Ann, <a href="#Page_148">148</a><br> +McKeon, Judge, <a href="#Page_284">284</a><br> +McLaren, Charles, <a href="#Page_358">358</a><br> +McLaren, Mrs. Charles, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>, <a + href="#Page_359">359</a>, <a href="#Page_394">394</a><br> +McLaren, Hon. Duncan, M.P., <a href="#Page_354">354</a><br> +McLaren, Priscilla Bright, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>, <a + href="#Page_373">373</a>-<a href="#Page_375">375</a>, <a + href="#Page_394">394</a>, <a href="#Page_408">408</a><br> +McLaren, Walter, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>, <a href="#Page_374">374</a><br> +McMartin, Donald, <a href="#Page_379">379</a><br> +McMartin, Duncan, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a><br> +McMartin, Margaret Cady, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, +<a href="#Page_48">48</a>,<a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, +<a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a><br> +MacDaniel, Eunice, <a href="#Page_449">449</a><br> +MacDaniel, Frances L., <a href="#Page_449">449</a><br> +MacDaniel, Osborne, <a href="#Page_449">449</a><br> +Macaulay, Thomas Babbington, <a href="#Page_362">362</a><br> +Maire, Rev. Hugh, <a href="#Page_72">72</a><br> +Mann, Horace, <a href="#Page_271">271</a><br> +Mann, Prestona, <a href="#Page_440">440</a><br> +Mansfield, Lord Chief Justice, <a href="#Page_425">425</a><br> +Mansfield, Mrs. A.A., <a href="#Page_282">282</a><br> +Marsh, Luther R., <a href="#Page_58">58</a><br> +Martineau, Harriet, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, +<a href="#Page_382">382</a>, <a href="#Page_395">395</a><br> +Massey, Gerald, <a href="#Page_377">377</a><br> +May, Rev. Samuel J., <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, +<a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_355">355</a><br> +Mellen, Mrs. William, <a href="#Page_370">370</a><br> +Mendenhall, Dinah, <a href="#Page_267">267</a><br> +Meredith, George, <a href="#Page_432">432</a><br> +Michel, Louise, <a href="#Page_305">305</a><br> +Michelet, Jules, <a href="#Page_465">465</a><br> +Milinowski, Captain Arthur, <a href="#Page_421">421</a><br> +Mill, John Stuart, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>, <a href="#Page_356">356</a>, +<a href="#Page_357">357</a>, <a href="#Page_366">366</a>, <a + href="#Page_369">369</a>,<br> +Mill, Mrs. John Stuart, <a href="#Page_150">150</a><br> +Miller, Charles Dudley, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, +<a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a><br> +Miller, Colonel, <a href="#Page_88">88</a><br> +Miller, Elizabeth Smith, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, +<a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>-<a + href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_377">377</a>, <a + href="#Page_418">418</a>, <a href="#Page_419">419</a>, <a + href="#Page_434">434</a>, <a href="#Page_435">435</a>, <a + href="#Page_455">455</a><br> +Miller, Gerrit Smith, <a href="#Page_454">454</a><br> +Miller, Jenness, <a href="#Page_204">204</a><br> +Miller, John B., <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a><br> +Miller, Judge, <a href="#Page_105">105</a><br> +Miller, Justice Samuel F., <a href="#Page_317">317</a><br> +Minor, Virginia L., <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_317">317</a><br> +Mitchell, Dr. Julia, <a href="#Page_394">394</a>, <a href="#Page_408">408</a><br> +Mitchell, Dr. Kate, <a href="#Page_394">394</a>, <a href="#Page_408">408</a><br> +Mitchell, Professor Maria, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a + href="#Page_463">463</a><br> +Moffett, Rev. Dr., <a href="#Page_401">401</a><br> +Moliner, Professor, <a href="#Page_342">342</a><br> +Morley, John, <a href="#Page_407">407</a>, <a href="#Page_431">431</a><br> +Morpeth, Lord, <a href="#Page_87">87</a><br> +Morris, William, <a href="#Page_450">450</a><br> +Morrison, Cotton, <a href="#Page_395">395</a><br> +Morsier, Emilie de, <a href="#Page_400">400</a><br> +Morton, Edwin, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_330">330</a><br> +Mott, Lucretia, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, +<a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>-<a href="#Page_84">84</a>, +<a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>,<a + href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a + href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>, <a + href="#Page_310">310</a>, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>, <a + href="#Page_326">326</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a + href="#Page_434">434</a>, <a href="#Page_435">435</a>, <a + href="#Page_437">437</a>, <a href="#Page_460">460</a><br> +Mott, Lydia, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, +<a href="#Page_243">243</a><br> +Moulton, Louise Chandler, <a href="#Page_401">401</a><br> +Moulton, Mrs., <a href="#Page_263">263</a><br> +Müller, Eva, <a href="#Page_374">374</a><br> +Müller, Henrietta, <a href="#Page_374">374</a><br> +Murray, Eliza, in, <a href="#Page_112">112</a><br> +<br> +Napoleon, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a + href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a><br> +Neal, Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_78">78</a><br> +Nichol, Elizabeth Pease, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a + href="#Page_354">354</a>, <a href="#Page_355">355</a><br> +<br> +O'Connell, Daniel, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, +<a href="#Page_103">103</a><br> +O'Conor, Charles, <a href="#Page_179">179</a><br> +Olmstead, Rev. John W., <a href="#Page_133">133</a><br> +Olmstead, Mary Livingston, <a href="#Page_133">133</a><br> +Opie, Amelia, <a href="#Page_80">80</a><br> +Orr, Mrs., <a href="#Page_360">360</a><br> +Osborne, Eliza W., <a href="#Page_434">434</a>-<a href="#Page_437">437</a><br> +O'Shea, Mrs. Kitty, <a href="#Page_422">422</a><br> +Owen, Robert Dale, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, +<a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a><br> +<br> +Palmer, Senator John M., <a href="#Page_414">414</a><br> +Parker, Margaret, <a href="#Page_375">375</a><br> +Parker, Theodore, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>-<a + href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a + href="#Page_263">263</a><br> +Parkhurst, Mrs., <a href="#Page_429">429</a><br> +Parnell, Charles Stewart, <a href="#Page_360">360</a>, <a + href="#Page_422">422</a>, <a href="#Page_423">423</a><br> +Parsons, Chauncey C, <a href="#Page_417">417</a><br> +Parsons, Mrs. Chauncey C, <a href="#Page_417">417</a><br> +Patton, Rev. Dr., <a href="#Page_382">382</a><br> +Peabody, Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a><br> +Pearson, Karl, <a href="#Page_409">409</a>, <a href="#Page_430">430</a><br> +Pease, Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a><br> +Phelps, Elizabeth B., <a href="#Page_173">173</a><br> +Phillips, Ann Green, <a href="#Page_80">80</a><br> +Phillips, Wendell, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, +<a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a + href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a + href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a + href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a + href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>-<a + href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a + href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a + href="#Page_332">332</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a><br> +Pierpont, John, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a><br> +Pillsbury, Parker, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, +<a href="#Page_355">355</a><br> +Plumb, Senator Preston B., <a href="#Page_388">388</a><br> +Pochin, Mrs.,<a href="#Page_338">338</a><br> +Pomeroy, "Brick," <a href="#Page_274">274</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a><br> +Powell, Aaron, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a><br> +Powell, Professor, <a href="#Page_442">442</a><br> +Priestman, Annie, <a href="#Page_371">371</a>, <a href="#Page_394">394</a><br> +Priestman, Mary, <a href="#Page_371">371</a><br> +Pugh, Sarah, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a + href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a + href="#Page_327">327</a><br> +<br> +Quincy, Edmund, <a href="#Page_131">131</a><br> +<br> +Ramsey, Mr., <a href="#Page_215">215</a><br> +Reid, Mrs. Hugo, <a href="#Page_80">80</a><br> +Remond, Charles, <a href="#Page_355">355</a><br> +Richer, Léon, <a href="#Page_400">400</a><br> +Richter, Jean Paul Friedrich, <a href="#Page_407">407</a><br> +Ripley, George, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_449">449</a><br> +Ripley, Mrs. George, <a href="#Page_449">449</a><br> +Richardson, Abby Sage, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a + href="#Page_439">439</a><br> +Ristori, Marchionesse Adelaide, <a href="#Page_356">356</a><br> +Robinson, Governor Charles, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>-<a + href="#Page_449">449</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a + href="#Page_253">253</a><br> +Roby, Matilda, <a href="#Page_355">355</a><br> +Rogers, Caroline Gilkey, <a href="#Page_383">383</a><br> +Rogers, Nathaniel P., <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_355">355</a><br> +Roland, Mme., <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, +<a href="#Page_382">382</a><br> +Rosa, Mr., <a href="#Page_379">379</a><br> +Rose, Ernestine L., <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, +<a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a + href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a + href="#Page_366">366</a><br> +Root, Elihu, <a href="#Page_451">451</a><br> +Rouvier, M., <a href="#Page_402">402</a><br> +Runkle, Mrs., <a href="#Page_451">451</a><br> +Ruskin, John, <a href="#Page_407">407</a><br> +<br> +Sackett, fudge Gerrit V., <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a + href="#Page_195">195</a><br> +Sage, Russell, <a href="#Page_449">449</a>, <a href="#Page_450">450</a><br> +Sage, Mrs. Russell, <a href="#Page_440">440</a>, <a href="#Page_449">449</a>, +<a href="#Page_451">451</a><br> +Sanborn, Frank, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>, +<a href="#Page_448">448</a><br> +Sanders, Mrs. Henry M., <a href="#Page_451">451</a><br> +Sargent, Senator Aaron A., <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a + href="#Page_290">290</a><br> +Sargent, Mrs. Aaron A., <a href="#Page_176">176</a><br> +Saville, Mrs., <a href="#Page_374">374</a>, <a href="#Page_394">394</a><br> +Scatcherd, Alice Cliff, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>, <a + href="#Page_364">364</a>, <a href="#Page_375">375</a>, <a + href="#Page_408">408</a>, <a href="#Page_429">429</a><br> +Scatcherd, Mr., <a href="#Page_429">429</a><br> +Schenck, Elizabeth B., <a href="#Page_289">289</a><br> +Schenck, Robert C, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a><br> +Scoble, Rev. John, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a><br> +Seaman, Mr., <a href="#Page_268">268</a><br> +Seidl, Professor, <a href="#Page_417">417</a><br> +Sewall, May Wright, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>, <a href="#Page_420">420</a><br> +Sewall, Samuel E., <a href="#Page_127">127</a><br> +Sewall, Mrs. Samuel E., <a href="#Page_127">127</a><br> +Seward, Governor William H., <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a + href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>-<a + href="#Page_199">199</a><br> +Seward, Mrs. William H., <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a + href="#Page_197">197</a>-<a href="#Page_199">199</a><br> +Shaftesbury, Lord, <a href="#Page_364">364</a><br> +Shaw, Rev. Anna, <a href="#Page_420">420</a>, <a href="#Page_461">461</a><br> +Shelley, Percy Bysshe, <a href="#Page_379">379</a>, <a + href="#Page_394">394</a>, <a href="#Page_427">427</a><br> +Shelley, Percy Florence, <a href="#Page_427">427</a><br> +Smalley, George W., <a href="#Page_357">357</a><br> +Smith, Ann Carroll Fitzhugh, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a + href="#Page_70">70</a><br> +Smith, Elizabeth Oakes, <a href="#Page_194">194</a><br> +Smith, Gerrit, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a + href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>-<a href="#Page_64">64</a>, +<a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a + href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a + href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a + href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a + href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_418">418</a>, <a + href="#Page_419">419</a>, <a href="#Page_453">453</a>-<a + href="#Page_455">455</a><br> +Smith, Greene, <a href="#Page_454">454</a><br> +Smith, Professor Horace, <a href="#Page_380">380</a><br> +Smith, Mrs. Horace, <a href="#Page_379">379</a><br> +Smith, Peter Sken, <a href="#Page_454">454</a><br> +Smith, Sidney, <a href="#Page_190">190</a><br> +Smith, Sisters, <a href="#Page_316">316</a><br> +Somerset, Lady Henry, <a href="#Page_451">451</a>, <a href="#Page_463">463</a><br> +Southwick, Abby, <a href="#Page_78">78</a><br> +Southwick, Joseph, <a href="#Page_127">127</a><br> +Southwick. Thankful, <a href="#Page_127">127</a><br> +Southworth, Louisa, <a href="#Page_414">414</a>, <a href="#Page_453">453</a><br> +Spaulding, Bishop, <a href="#Page_380">380</a><br> +Spence, Clara, <a href="#Page_327">327</a><br> +Spencer, John C, <a href="#Page_7">7</a><br> +Spencer, Sarah Andrews, <a href="#Page_312">312</a><br> +Spofford, Jane Snow, <a href="#Page_380">380</a>, <a href="#Page_411">411</a>, +<a href="#Page_413">413</a>, <a href="#Page_414">414</a>, <a + href="#Page_420">420</a><br> +Spofford, Mr., <a href="#Page_414">414</a>, <a href="#Page_420">420</a><br> +Sprague, Governor William, <a href="#Page_294">294</a><br> +Staël, Mme. de, <a href="#Page_435">435</a><br> +Stanford, Senator Leland, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>, <a + href="#Page_414">414</a><br> +Stanley, Dean, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>, <a href="#Page_375">375</a><br> +Stansfeld, Mr., M.P., <a href="#Page_364">364</a><br> +Stanton, Hon. Daniel Cady, <a href="#Page_415">415</a><br> +Stanton, Edwin M., <a href="#Page_403">403</a><br> +Stanton, Elizabeth Cady, Granddaughter of author, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>, +<a href="#Page_428">428</a>, <a href="#Page_429">429</a><br> +Stanton, <i>Hon</i>. Gerrit Smith, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a + href="#Page_325">325</a>, <a href="#Page_416">416</a>, <a + href="#Page_417">417</a>, <a href="#Page_448">448</a>, <a + href="#Page_451">451</a><br> +Stanton, Harriot Eaton, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>, <a + href="#Page_336">336</a>, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>, <a + href="#Page_339">339</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>, <a + href="#Page_390">390</a>-<a href="#Page_392">392</a>, <a + href="#Page_394">394</a>, <a href="#Page_395">395</a>, <a + href="#Page_397">397</a>, <a href="#Page_410">410</a>, <a + href="#Page_418">418</a>, <a href="#Page_420">420</a>-<a + href="#Page_422">422</a>, <a href="#Page_429">429</a>, <a + href="#Page_431">431</a>, <a href="#Page_451">451</a><br> +Stanton, Henry, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_417">417</a><br> +Stanton, <i>Hon</i>. Henry Brewster, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a + href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, +<a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a + href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, +<a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a + href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a + href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a + href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a + href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>, <a + href="#Page_380">380</a>, <a href="#Page_385">385</a><br> +Stanton, Margaret Livingston, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>, <a + href="#Page_325">325</a>, <a href="#Page_377">377</a>, <a + href="#Page_378">378</a>, <a href="#Page_418">418</a>, <a + href="#Page_420">420</a>, <a href="#Page_432">432</a>, <a + href="#Page_450">450</a>, <a href="#Page_451">451</a><br> +Stanton, Marguerite Berry, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>, <a + href="#Page_428">428</a><br> +Stanton, Robert Livingston, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>, <a + href="#Page_428">428</a>, <a href="#Page_432">432</a><br> +Stanton, Theodore, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, +<a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>, <a + href="#Page_331">331</a>, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>, <a + href="#Page_341">341</a>, <a href="#Page_343">343</a>, <a + href="#Page_349">349</a>, <a href="#Page_357">357</a>, <a + href="#Page_399">399</a>, <a href="#Page_403">403</a>, <a + href="#Page_404">404</a>, <a href="#Page_428">428</a>, <a + href="#Page_431">431</a>, <a href="#Page_448">448</a>, <a + href="#Page_449">449</a>, <a href="#Page_455">455</a><br> +Stead, William T., <a href="#Page_422">422</a><br> +Stebbins, Catharine F., <a href="#Page_144">144</a><br> +Stebbins, Giles, <a href="#Page_144">144</a><br> +Stebbins, Mrs., <a href="#Page_282">282</a><br> +Steinthal, <i>Rev</i>. Mr., <a href="#Page_356">356</a><br> +Stepniak, <a href="#Page_408">408</a><br> +Sterling, Antoinette, <a href="#Page_462">462</a>, <a href="#Page_463">463</a><br> +Stevens, Thaddeus, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a><br> +Stevenson, Robert Louis, <a href="#Page_450">450</a><br> +Stewart, Alvin, <a href="#Page_58">58</a><br> +Stone, Lucy, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, +<a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a + href="#Page_294">294</a>, <a href="#Page_460">460</a><br> +Stout, <i>Rev</i>. C., <a href="#Page_80">80</a><br> +Stowe, Harriet Beecher, <a href="#Page_264">264</a><br> +Straus, Oscar S., <a href="#Page_464">464</a><br> +Stuart, Charles, <a href="#Page_54">54</a><br> +Stuart, <i>Dr</i>. Jacob H., <a href="#Page_276">276</a><br> +Stuart, Mrs. Jacob H., <a href="#Page_276">276</a><br> +Stuart, <i>Professor</i>, <a href="#Page_397">397</a><br> +Sturge, Joseph, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_367">367</a><br> +Sumner, Charles, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, +<a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a + href="#Page_403">403</a><br> +Sutherland, <i>Duchess</i> of, <a href="#Page_87">87</a><br> +Swift, Isabella, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, +<a href="#Page_67">67</a><br> +Swift, <i>Lieutenant</i>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a><br> +<br> +Tanner, Mrs., <a href="#Page_364">364</a><br> +Taylor, Helen, <a href="#Page_366">366</a><br> +Taylor, Mrs. Peter A., <a href="#Page_368">368</a>, <a + href="#Page_374">374</a>, <a href="#Page_394">394</a><br> +Terry, Ellen, <a href="#Page_464">464</a><br> +Thacher, <i>Mayor</i>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a><br> +Thomson, Adeline, <a href="#Page_327">327</a><br> +Thomasson, <i>Hon</i>. John P., <i>M. P</i>., <a href="#Page_360">360</a>, +<a href="#Page_373">373</a><br> +Thomasson, Mrs. John P., <a href="#Page_373">373</a><br> +Thompkins, <i>Governor</i> Daniel D., <a href="#Page_7">7</a><br> +Thompson, George, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, +<a href="#Page_169">169</a><br> +Thompson, May Wright, <a href="#Page_323">323</a><br> +Tilton, Theodore, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, +<a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a + href="#Page_401">401</a><br> +Train, George Francis, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a + href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a><br> +Traut, Mme. Griess, <a href="#Page_400">400</a><br> +Tree, Ellen, <a href="#Page_204">204</a><br> +Tudor, Mrs. Fenno, <a href="#Page_330">330</a><br> +Tyler, <i>Professor</i>, Moses Coit, <a href="#Page_303">303</a><br> +Tyng, <i>Dr</i>. Stephen, <a href="#Page_240">240</a><br> +<br> +Underhill, Zoe Dana, <a href="#Page_448">448</a><br> +<br> +Van Vechten, Abraham, <a href="#Page_7">7</a><br> +Vest, <i>Senator</i> George G., <a href="#Page_319">319</a><br> +Victoria, <i>Queen</i>, <a href="#Page_398">398</a>, <a + href="#Page_415">415</a><br> +Vignon, Claude, <a href="#Page_402">402</a><br> +Villard, Fanny Garrison, <a href="#Page_128">128</a><br> +Villard, Henry, <a href="#Page_128">128</a><br> +Vincent, Henry, <a href="#Page_260">260</a><br> +Virchow, <i>Professor</i>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a><br> +Waite, <i>Chief Justice</i> Morrison R., <a href="#Page_317">317</a><br> +Walter, Ellen Cochrane, <a href="#Page_69">69</a><br> +Walsingham, <i>Sir</i> Francis, <a href="#Page_358">358</a><br> +"Warrington," <a href="#Page_330">330</a><br> +Washington, <i>General</i> George, <a href="#Page_3">3</a><br> +Weed, Thurlow, <a href="#Page_330">330</a><br> +Weld, Angelina Grimke, <a href="#Page_114">114</a><br> +Weld, Theodore D., <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a><br> +Wellington, <i>Duke</i> of, <a href="#Page_370">370</a><br> +Wells, Emeline B., <a href="#Page_286">286</a><br> +West, Benjamin, <a href="#Page_266">266</a><br> +Weston, Deborah, <a href="#Page_80">80</a><br> +Whipple, E.P., <a href="#Page_240">240</a><br> +Whitney, Anna, <a href="#Page_461">461</a><br> +Whittier, John G., <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>-<a + href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a + href="#Page_276">276</a><br> +Whittle, <i>Dr.</i> Ewing, <a href="#Page_375">375</a><br> +Wigham, Eliza, <a href="#Page_354">354</a><br> +Wigham, Jane, <a href="#Page_354">354</a><br> +Wilberforce, Canon, <a href="#Page_463">463</a><br> +Wilberforce, William, <a href="#Page_91">91</a><br> +Wilbour, Charlotte Beebe, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a + href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_401">401</a><br> +Wilkeson, Catherine Cady, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a + href="#Page_111">111</a><br> +Wilkeson, Samuel, <a href="#Page_135">135</a><br> +Willard, Amelia, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, +<a href="#Page_386">386</a><br> +Willard, Emma, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a + href="#Page_441">441</a>, <a href="#Page_444">444</a>, <a + href="#Page_445">445</a>, <a href="#Page_449">449</a>, <a + href="#Page_450">450</a>, <a href="#Page_463">463</a><br> +Willard, Frances E., <a href="#Page_452">452</a>, <a href="#Page_463">463</a><br> +Willard, Mrs. John, <a href="#Page_443">443</a><br> +Williams, <i>Senator</i> C.G., <a href="#Page_271">271</a><br> +Williams, Elisha, <a href="#Page_7">7</a><br> +Wilson, Daniel, <a href="#Page_402">402</a><br> +Winckworth, Mr. and Mrs. Stephen, <a href="#Page_362">362</a><br> +Winslow, Emily, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a><br> +Woodhull, Victoria, <a href="#Page_382">382</a><br> +Wollstonecraft, Mary, <a href="#Page_382">382</a>, <a href="#Page_427">427</a><br> +Woodward, Mr., <a href="#Page_273">273</a><br> +Worden, Mrs., <a href="#Page_195">195</a><br> +Wright, David, <a href="#Page_435">435</a><br> +Wright, Frances, <a href="#Page_382">382</a><br> +Wright, Henry C., <a href="#Page_355">355</a><br> +Wright, Martha C., <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, +<a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_434">434</a>, <a + href="#Page_435">435</a>, <a href="#Page_437">437</a><br> +Wright, Mr., <a href="#Page_282">282</a><br> +Wright, Paulina, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, +<a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a + href="#Page_243">243</a><br> +<br> +Yost, Elizabeth W., <a href="#Page_379">379</a><br> +Yost, Maria, <a href="#Page_9">9</a><br> +<br> +Zackesewska, <i>Dr.</i> M.E., <a href="#Page_243">243</a><br> +<p>[<i>Portions of Chapters X. and XI. of this book are taken by +permission +from +an article written by Mrs. Stanton for "Our Famous Women," published by +A.D. Worthington & Co.</i>]</p> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Eighty Years And More; Reminiscences +1815-1897, by Elizabeth Cady Stanton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EIGHTY YEARS AND MORE *** + +***** This file should be named 11982-h.htm or 11982-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/9/8/11982/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Grenet and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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